Rudyard Kipling

The Years Between Rudyard Kipling

We were all one heart and one raceWhen the Abbey trumpets blew. For a moment's breathing-spaceWe had forgotten youNow you return to your honoured placePanting to shame us anew. We have walked with the Ages dead-With our Past alive and ablaze, And you bid us pawn our honour for bread; This day of all the days!And you cannot wait till our guests are sped, Or last week's wreath decays?The light is still in our eyesOf Faith and Gentlehood, Of Service and Sacrifice, And it does not match our mood, To turn so soon to your treacheriesThat starve our land of her food. Our ears still carry the soundOf our once Imperial seas, Exultant after our King was crowned, Beneath the sun and the breeze. It is too early to have them boundOr sold at your decrees. Wait till the memory goes, Wait till the visions fade, We may betray in time, God knows, But we would not have it said, When you make report to our scornful foes, That we kissed as