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Jobson’s Amen
By Rudyard Kipling
“Blessed be the English and all their ways and works.
Cursed be the Infidels, Hereticks, and Turks!”
“Amen,” quo’ Jobson, “but where I used to lie
Was neither Candle, Bell nor Book to curse my brethren by,
“But a palm-tree in full bearing, bowing down, bowing down,
To a surf that drove unsparing at the brown, walled town,
Conches in a temple, oil-lamps in a dome,
And a low moon out of Africa said: ‘This way home!’”
“Blessed be the English and all that they profess.
Cursed be the Savages that prance in nakedness!”
“Amen,” quo’ Jobson, “but where I used to lie
Was neither shirt nor pantaloons to catch my brethren by:
“But a well-wheel slowly creaking, going round, going round,
By a water-channel leaking over drowned, warm ground,
Parrots very busy in the trellised pepper-vine,
And a high sun over Asia shouting: ‘Rise and shine!’”
“Blessèd be the English and everything they own.
Cursed be the Infidels that bow to wood and stone!”
“Amen,” quo’ Jobson, “but where I used to lie
Was neither pew nor Gospelleer to save my brethren by:
“But a desert stretched and stricken, left and right, left and right,
Where the piled mirages thicken under white-hot light,
A skull beneath a sand-hill and a viper coiled inside,
And a red wind out of Libya roaring: ‘Run and hide!’”
“Blessèd be the English and all they make or do.
Cursèd be the Hereticks who doubt that this is true!”
“Amen,” quo’ Jobson, “but where I mean to die
Is neither rule nor calliper to judge the matter by:
“But Himalaya heavenward-heading, sheer and vast, sheer and vast,
In a million summits bedding on the last world’s past,
A certain sacred mountain where the scented cedars climb,
And, the feet of my Beloved hurrying back through Time!”
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