24 July 2011

The Beginnings (Kipling)

It was not part of their blood,
It came to them very late,
With long arrears to make good,
When the Saxon began to hate.

They were not easily moved,
They were icy -- willing to wait
Till every count should be proved,
Ere the Saxon began to hate.

Their voices were even and low.
Their eyes were level and straight.
There was neither sign nor show
When the Saxon began to hate.

It was not preached to the crowd.
It was not taught by the state.
No man spoke it aloud
When the Saxon began to hate.

It was not suddently bred.
It will not swiftly abate.
Through the chilled years ahead,
When Time shall count from the date
That the Saxon began to hate.

The Beginnings, Rudyard Kipling

7 comments:

  1. Very timely. I love Kipling. Thank you.

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  2. What about the Anglos? Or the Jutes?

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  3. Non Angli sed angeli...

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  4. In Kipling's "A.D. 1100", a Norman lord advises his son on dealing with the Saxons:

    The Saxon is not like us Normans. His manners are not so polite.
    But he never means anything serious till he talks about justice and right.
    When he stands like an ox in the furrow with his sullen set eyes on your own,
    And grumbles, 'This isn't fair dealing,' my son, leave the Saxon alone.

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  5. Nice.
    Kipling's finest hour was however 'How the elephant got his trunk.'

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