Poem from Rudyard Kipling...

I've really enjoyed several of Rudyard Kipling's poems, and I wanted to share this one with you, that I just heard recently on the Great Authors Webinar. It's called The Gods of the Copybook Headings.

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market-Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision, and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market-Place;
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch.
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch.
They denied that Wishes were horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings.
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed they sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbor and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said:"The Wages of Sin is Death".

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew,
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four-
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man-
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began:-
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wobbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing, and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will bun,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!



Isn't that good?! Have a blessed day!

Why Poetry Matters

Last night we gathered with some friends to listen to the first of the Great Authors Webinar Series. This first webinar was given by Mr. Doug Phillips, and was entitled, Why Poetry Matters, and was an overview of both his book, Poems for Patriarchs, and Poetry as a whole.

Something Mr. Doug pointed out that I had never thought of before, was that “Poets, as artists, are motivators of culture. A great poet carries a lot of weight, not only because of the words of the poem, bu because they are theological in nature. Poetry is designed to be theological in nature. It is a form of communication of the poets’ religious beliefs.”
He went on to say, "The absence of manly poetry trivializes manhood." And daughters, when the manhood of our fathers is trivialized, the family is compromised.

This has a trickle effect-- and we daughters don't escape!

Mr. Phillips pointed out some characteristics of Good Poetry:
... it inspires manly bravery.
...it points us to God.
... it inspires a love of our nation.
...it can inspire the godly love for women.

Poetry always inspires a love of something.

Mr. Phillips even went into some of the foundational elements of poetry:
-Theme
-Theology
-Lines & Stanzas
-Rhyme Scheme
-Meter
-Illiteration
-Exaggeration
-Similes
-Metaphors
-Idioms
-Symbolism
-Mood
-Tone

God Bless!