Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/142

124 They that dig foundations deep,

Fit for realms to rise upon,

Little honour do they reap

Of their generation,

Any more than mountains gain

Stature till we reach the plain.

With no veil before their face

Such as shroud or sceptre lend—

Daily in the market-place,

Of one height to foe and friend—

They must cheapen self to find

Ends uncheapened for mankind.

Through the night when hirelings rest,

Sleepless they arise, alone,

The unsleeping arch to test

And the o'er-trusted corner-stone,

'Gainst the need, they know, that lies

Hid behind the centuries.

Not by lust of praise or show

Not by Peace herself betrayed—

Peace herself must they forego

Till that peace be fitly made;

And in single strength uphold

Wearier hands and hearts acold.

On the stage their act hath framed

For thy sports, O Liberty!

Doubted are they, and defamed

By the tongues their act set free,

While they quicken, tend and raise

Power that must their power displace.