I’ve had this stuck in my head most of the day. Can’t imagine why.
The Old Issue
Rudyard Kipling
(Sorry, it’s kind of long…)
All we have of freedom, all we use or know–
This our fathers bought for us long and long ago.
Ancient Right unnoticed as the breath we draw–
Leave to live by no man’s leave, underneath the Law.
Lance and torch and tumult, steel and grey-goose wing
Wrenched it, inch and ell and all, slowly from the king.
Till our fathers ‘stablished,, after bloody years,
How our King is one with us, first among his peers.
So they bought us freedom-not at little cost–
Wherefore must we watch the King, lest our gain be lost.
Over all things certain, this is sure indeed,
Suffer not the old King: for we know the breed.
Give no ear to bondsmen bidding us endure.
Whining “He is weak and far”; crying “Time will cure.”
(Time himself is witness, till the battle joins,
Deeper strikes the rottenness in the people’s loins.)
Give no heed to bondsmen masking war with peace.
Suffer not the old King here or overseas.
They that beg us barter–wait his yielding mood–
Pledge the years we hold in trust-pawn our brother’s blood–
Howso’ great their clamour, whatsoe’er their claim,
Suffer not the old King under any name!
Here is naught unproven–here is naught to learn.
It is written what shall fall if the King return.
He shall mark our goings, question whence we came,
Set his guards about us, as in Freedom’s name.
He shall take a tribute, toll of all our ware;
He shall change our gold for arms–arms we may not bear.
He shall break his Judges if they cross his word;
He shall rule above the Law calling on the Lord.
He shall peep and mutter; and the night shall bring
Watchers ‘neath our window, lest we mock the King —
Hate and all division; hosts of hurrying spies;
Money poured in secret, carrion breeding flies.
Strangers of his counsel, hirelings of his pay,
These shall deal our Justice: sell-deny-delay.
We shall drink dishonour, we shall eat abuse
For the Land we look to–for the Tongue we use.
We shall take our station, dirt beneath his feet,
While his hired captains jeer us in the street.
Cruel in the shadow, crafty in the sun,
Far beyond his borders shall his teachings run.
Sloven, sullen, savage, secret, uncontrolled,
Laying on a new land evil of the old–
Long-forgotten bondage, dwarfing heart and brain–
All our fathers died to loose he shall bind again.
Here is nought at venture, random nor untrue
Swings the wheel full-circle, brims the cup anew.
Here is naught unproven, here is nothing hid:
Step for step and word for word–so the old Kings did!
Step by step, and word by word: who is ruled may read.
Suffer not the old Kings: for we know the breed–
All the right they promise–all the wrong they bring.
Stewards of the Judgment, suffer not this King!
Its uncanny how well i understood everything! Was the written in the 1700s? 1800s? By an american? Very cool hes saying fuck da powers that be and telling a story of history and that we should not repeat it! I like how he calls the person to bring the bulls shit back around some very sordid words! Very cool btw did u hear about the police protest march we almost took over the downtown phx freeway tunnel!! So cool police better be seeing how mad we are right now the people are tired of doing nothing and being bullied by the gestapo police departments!
Kyle, it’s uncanny how well Kipling could put his finger on the root of troubles – often involving things he fundamentally approved of. He was a 19th century Englishman, an imperialist and a monarchist, and for those reasons there was a movement to make his work disappear in America through much of the 20th century. He wrote a lot of drivel that hasn’t stood the test of time but he also wrote some things – usually things critical of his own order and society – that seem timeless. The Old Issue was published in 1899 but you could grind off the serial numbers and make it about the President and the federal alphabet agencies and it would fit at least as well.