Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/440

 Witness thy portrait, smoke-defiled,

That decked his shelter-place.

Life seemed more present, wrote the child,

Beneath thy well-known face.

And when the grudging days restored

Him for a breath to home,

He, with fresh crowds of youth, adored

Thee making mirth in Rome.

Therefore, I humble, join the hosts,

Loyal and loud, who bow

To thee as Queen of Song—and ghosts,

For I remember how

Never more rampant rose the Hall

At thy audacious line

Than when the news came in from Gaul

Thy son had—followed mine.

But thou didst hide it in thy breast

And, capering, took the brunt

Of blaze and blare, and launched the jest

That swept next week the front.

Singer to children ! Ours possessed

Sleep before noon—but thee,

Wakeful each midnight for the rest,

No holocaust shall free!

Yet they who use the Word assigned,

To hearten and make whole,

Not less than Gods have served mankind.

Though vultures rend their soul.