Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/116

98                        RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE For to make plain that man's disdain Is but new Beauty's birth— For to possess in singleness The joy of all the earth.

As Thou didst teach all lovers speech And Life all mystery, So shalt Thou rule by every school Till love and longing die, Who wast or yet the Lights were set, A whisper in the Void, Who shalt be sung through planets young When this is clean destroyed.

Beyond the bounds our staring rounds, Across the pressing dark, The children wise of outer skies Look hitherward and mark A light that shifts, a glare that drifts, Rekindling thus and thus, Not all forlorn, for Thou hast borne Strange tales to them of us.

Time hath no tide but must abide The servant of Thy will; Tide hath no time, for to Thy rhyme The ranging stars stand still— Regent of spheres that lock our fears Our hopes invisible, Oh 'twas certes at Thy decrees We fashioned Heaven and Hell!

Pure Wisdom hath no certain path That lacks thy morning-eyne, And captains bold by Thee controlled Most like to Gods design.