Recessional by Rudyard Kipling

Recessional

God of our fathers, known of old--
Lord of our far-flung battle line
Beneath whose awful hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine--
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget - lest we forget!

The tumult and the shouting dies;
The captains and the kings depart:
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget - lest we forget!

Far-called, our navies melt away;
On dune and headland sinks the fire:
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget - lest we forget!

If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe--
Such boasting as the Gentiles use
Or lesser breeds without the law--
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget - lest we forget!

For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard--
All valiant dust that builds on dust,
And guarding, calls not Thee to guard--
For frantic boast and foolish word,
Thy mercy on Thy people, Lord!
--Rudyard Kipling

I really like Rudyard Kipling's poetry. Here is a man who knows the value of just the right word, and has a great ear for finding it. I think that's the reason his Just So Stories are so consistently popular. They have a rhythm and cadence that's almost poetry. Take this line from The Elephant's Child "to the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees, and find out."

Many people read his poems and say that he's imperialist, racist, jingoist, etc. I personally feel that he's something else. Perhaps nationalist comes close to being the right word. He wants the best for his nation, and believes that God wants it too. He doesn't say, "my nation, right or wrong," but, "my nation had better do right." You don't have to read much of his work (try Gunga-Din for starters) to see that he thinks that it's what a man does, rather than the color of his skin, that makes him worthwhile. I don't think that he believes that simply conquering a country, enslaving the natives, and taking all the natural resources you can get is the right thing for his nation (on practical as well as moral grounds).

He is, however, unapologetically religious, and that's what this poem is about. For whatever reason, God blessed England and America (Kipling lived in both places, and though this poem was written for Queen Victoria's Jubilee, it, and other poems written at the time were directed at both audiences) with the military and economic power to make and maintain colonial empires. Kipling is warning them that if they forget that it was His power, not their own, that they'll be likely to lose it.

There are plenty of instances of this happening in the Old Testament (see the Babylonian captivity), but I really like a section in the Book of Mormon where some brothers start warning each other about the same thing:

Alma 26:10 And it came to pass that when Ammon had said these words, his brother Aaron rebuked him, saying: Ammon, I fear that thy joy doth carry thee away unto boasting.
11 But Ammon said unto him: I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.
12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.
13 Behold, how many thousands of our brethren has he loosed from the pains of hell; and they are brought to sing redeeming love, and this because of the power of his word which is in us, therefore have we not great reason to rejoice?
14 Yea, we have reason to praise him forever, for he is the Most High God, and has loosed our brethren from the chains of hell.

The issues Kipling addresses in this and other poems are as pressing today as they were when he wrote them. America and England are still fighting in pretty much the same parts of the world for pretty much the same reasons. Today, more than ever, we need to hear words, "Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget - lest we forget!"