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The Survival
| The Survival written by Rudyard Kipling |
| First published in the collection Debits and Credits (1926), accompanying the story The Janeites. Also in Twenty-one Tales (1946). | Link to further information |
(HORACE, Bk. V, Ode 22.[1])
Securely, after days
Unnumbered, I behold
Kings mourn that promised praise
Their cheating bards foretold.
Of earth-constricting wars,
Of Princes passed in chains,
Of deeds out-shining stars,
No word or voice remains.
Yet furthest times receive
And to fresh praise restore
Mere flutes that breathe at eve,
Mere seaweed on the shore.
A smoke of sacrifice;
A chosen myrtle-wreath;
An harlot's altered eyes;
A rage 'gainst love or death;
Glazed snow beneath the moon;
The surge of storm-bowed trees-
The Cæsars perished soon,
And Rome Herself: But these
Endures while Empires fall
And God for Gods make room ...
Which greater God than all
Imposed the amazing doom?
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