Rudyard Kipling’s “Mesopotamia”
They shall not return to us, the resolute, the young,
The eager and whole-hearted whom we gave:
But the men who left them thriftily to die in their own dung,
Shall they come with years and honour to the grave?
They shall not return to us; the strong men coldly slain
In sight of help denied from day to day:
But the men who edged their agonies and chide them in their pain,
Are they too strong and wise to put away?
Our dead shall not return to us while Day and Night divide–
Never while the bars of sunset hold.
But the idle-minded overlings who quibbled while they died,
Shall they thrust for high employments as of old?
Shall we only threaten and be angry for an hour:
When the storm is ended shall we find
How softly but how swiftly they have sidled back to power
By the favour and contrivance of their kind?
Even while they soothe us, while they promise large amends,
Even while they make a show of fear,
Do they call upon their debtors, and take counsel with their friends,
To conform and re-establish each career?
Their lives cannot repay us–their death could not undo–
The shame that they have laid upon our race.
But the slothfulness that wasted and the arrogance that slew,
Shall we leave it unabated in its place?
Rudyard Kipling, 1917
I guess he wrote that after the Kut fiasco of the year before.
Brilliant piece,shows us how Vets have been used as door mats for ages.
Judge Jeanine Pirro on the VA debacle-
http://youtu.be/BdEDi-pFH6s
“…shows us how Vets have been used as door mats for ages.”
Yes, they have.
Kipling….By all accounts a gentle man, but with powerful and prophetic words.
Another.
Take up the White Man’s burden–
The savage wars of peace–
Fill full the mouth of Famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought,
Watch sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hopes to nought.
Our (the new Republic – US) first war was against the Barbary Pirates (islam) who were demanding 20% of the US GNP as tribute to not take our ships or US citizens- Jefferson sent the new Marines-Madison finished the job-quoting Kipling
Monday, August 18, 2008
Kipling on the payment of Dane-geld…
Kipling:
“We never pay any on Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost.
For the end of the game is
oppression and shame,
And the nation that pays it
is lost!”
Jefferson sent the new Marines to the Barbary conflict to rescue US hostages.
Thus: words from the Marine Hymn:
“From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli…
BTW- the above is one of my first posts –
C-CS
These as well-
http://carolmsblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/again-barbary-pirates-and-jefferson-and.html
http://carolmsblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/blog-post.html
http://carolmsblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/islamic-pirates-demand-20-million.html
http://carolmsblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/testing-pirates-sieze-us-flagged-ship.html
http://carolmsblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/american-christians-taken-by-priates.html
Kipling – love his poetry-and I love leaders who are not wimps-waiting for one to ‘show’ up in the US —
C-CS
The waste of white lives in black lands is a repeated theme in Kipling’s works. I find that I can’t disagree with him.
Indeed, when I was in Vietnam in 1968, Kipling was very popular, especially his poem “Tommy”…
We won every battle in Vietnam, but we lost the war.
History lesson forgotten in 1968: Insurrections are usually successful over time.
Lesson learned: the only war to win a war is to pound the enemy into the dirt and turn the enemy country into a graveyard and call it peace.
No nation building…No letting them up easy…No foreign aid to rebuild…
Another history lesson: Why did the South surrender in 1865
Answer: They ran out of young men to fill the ranks and the old men of the Confederate army had mostly been killed or badly wounded.
They who for their Country die
Shall fill an honored grave
For Glory gilds the soldier’s tomb
And Beauty weeps the Brave.
poem from Brooks, U. R., Stories of the Confederacy.