Recessional by Rudyard Kipling

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 boastings 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.

From “Moon of Other Days: M. M. Kaye’s Kipling, a Selection of Favourite Verses with Notes and Sketches by M. M. Kaye and Paintings by George Sharp” (Salem House: $24.95; 162 pp.). Kaye writes that this most notorious of all the imperial anthems was received--on its original publication in the Times of London--as a memento mori: “My father, who was on leave and in London at the time of Queen Victoria’s “Diamond Jubilee” of 1897. . .said I could have no idea of the impact it made--coming on top of all that back-slapping and showing off. Like a jug of cold water dashed in the face of a yelling, capering drunk. . .” 1989, reprinted by permission of the publisher.