“JUSTICE.”

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1902, 12 November 1918, Page 2

“JUSTICE.”

KIPLING’S NEW POEM. Across a work! where all men grieve, And grieving strive the more, The great days range like tides, and leave Our dead on every shore. Heavy the load we undergo, And our own hands'prepare, If we have parley with the foe, The load our sons must bear. Before we loose the word That binds new worlds to birth, Meeds must we loosen first the sword Of justice upon earth; Or else all else is vain Since life on earth began, And Ihe spent world sings back a - gain Hopeless of Hod and man. A people and (heir King, Through ancient sin grown strong, Because they feared no reckoning Mould set no bound to wrung; But now ther hour is past, And'we who bore it find Evil incarnate held at last To answer to mankind. : Eor agony and spoil Of nations beat to dust, Eor poisoned air and tortured soil, And cold, commanded Ju.-f; And every secret woe The shuddering water.-, saw — Willed and fulfilled by high and low — Let them relearn the law. ThM when the dooms are read, Nor high nor low shall say:—■ “My haughty or my humble head Has saved me in this day.’’ That (ill the end of time Their remnant shall recall Their fathers’ old confederate crime Availed them not at all, That neither schools nor priests, M'or kings may build again A people with the heart of beasts Made wise concerning men. Whereby our dead shall sleep In honour unbetrayed, And wo in faith and honour keep That peace-for which they paid.