Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/439

 And Man knows it! Knows, moreover, that the Woman that God gave him

Must command but may not govern—shall enthral but not enslave him.

And She knows, because She warns him, and Her instincts never fail,

That the Female of Her Species is more deadly than the Male.



1917

 boots it on the Gods to call?

Since, answered or unheard,

We perish with the Gods and all

Things made—except the Word.

Ere certain Fate had touched a heart

By fifty years made cold,

I judged thee, Lyde, and thy art

O'erblown and over-bold.

But he—but he, of whom bereft

I suffer vacant days—

He on his shield not meanly left—

He cherished all thy lays.

Witness the magic coffer stocked

With convoluted runes

Wherein thy very voice was locked

And linked to circling tunes.

