Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/632

 614 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE

A BRITISH-ROMAN SONG

(A. D. 406)

FATHER'S father saw it not, And I, belike, shall never come, To look on that so-holy spot The very Rome

Crowned by all Time, all Art, all Might

The equal work of Gods and Man, City beneath whose oldest height The Race began !

Soon to send forth again a brood,

Unshakeable, we pray, that clings, To Rome's thrice-hammered hardihood In arduous things.

Strong heart with triple armour bound, Beat strongly, for thy life-blood runs, Age after Age, the Empire round In us thy Sons

Who, distant from the Seven Hills, Loving and serving much, require Thee thee to guard 'gainst home-born ills, The Imperial Fire!

A PICT SONG

"D OME never looks where she treads.

Always her heavy hooves fall, On our stomachs, our hearts or our heads; And Rome never heeds when we bawl.