Recessional (poem)
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Recessional is a poem by Rudyard Kipling, which he composed on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897. The poem expresses pride in the British Empire, but also an underlying sadness that the Empire might go the way of all previous empires. Kipling recognizes that boasting and jingoism - faults of which he was often accused - were inappropriate and vain in light of God's dominion over the world.[citation needed]
- God of our fathers, known of old--
- Lord of our far-flung battle line
- Beneath whose awful hand we hold
- Dominion over palm and pine--
- Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
- Lest we forget - lest we forget!
- The tumult and the shouting dies;
- The captains and the kings depart:
- Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
- An humble and a contrite heart.
- Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
- Lest we forget - lest we forget!
- Far-called, our navies melt away;
- On dune and headland sinks the fire:
- Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
- Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
- Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
- Lest we forget - lest we forget!
- If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
- Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe--
- Such boasting as the Gentiles use
- Or lesser breeds without the law--
- Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
- Lest we forget - lest we forget!
- For heathen heart that puts her trust
- In reeking tube and iron shard--
- All valiant dust that builds on dust,
- And guarding, calls not Thee to guard--
- For frantic boast and foolish word,
- Thy mercy on Thy people, Lord!
[edit] Lest We Forget
The phrase Lest We Forget was popularised in 1887, by Rudyard Kipling; it formed the refrain of Recessional, a warning about the perils of hubris and the inevitable decline of imperial power.
The burden of the poem was a spiritual one. The history of western Christendom shows a recurrent pattern. When nations rise to wealth and power they are inclined to forget their God. The understanding was that it was Divine Providence who brought them the material and spiritual blessings that nurtured them into a position of greatness among the nations. Here are the telling lines of Rudyard Kipling's poem.
[edit] Remembrance Day association
The phrase later passed into common usage after the First World War, becoming linked with Remembrance Day observations; it came to be a plea not to forget past sacrifices, and was often found as the only wording on war memorials, or used as an epitaph.
[edit] Other references
See Lest We Forget.
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