RECESSIONAL
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,
A 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 boasting 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!
Amen.
– Rudyard Kipling.
Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, celebrated on the 22nd of June, 1897, has gone into history as the greatest human pageant in the whole story of humanity. As sovereign of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of India, she occupies the most powerful position on earth. In addition to the material power represented, the admiration and love in which she is held by the truest people of every nation and kindred, because of her wise reign as well as her long and pure life, swelled her jubilee into a tribute of the united affection of civilized mankind. Preparations were made for months beforehand. Representatives from kings and presidents, as well as from the army and navy of every country in the world, came to do her homage.
It was not only Queen Victoria’s day, it was Great Britain’s day. Not only in London, where the great procession of representatives and soldiers from all the Colonies marched in honor of the gracious queen, but the services in honor of the day belted the globe. They began in the Colonies of New Zealand and Australia; afterward in South Africa; and so they followed the sun westward. When his light had crossed the ocean and reached the continent of America, the citizens of St. John’s, Newfoundland, recommenced the anthem which was taken up in succession, in town after town across the continent through Canada, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The loyal dwellers at Victoria, British Columbia, tossed it across the Pacific, and on to India, throughout all the Colonies of the empire of the Union Jack.
It was a sublime and unparalleled occasion, and yet it is not too much to say that the most splendid and perhaps the most enduring souvenir of the Queen’s Jubilee was Rudyard Kipling’s poem – the Recessional. The editor of the London Times, in which journal it was first published, declares that it is the greatest poem of the century, and it is quite possible that such may be the verdict of the next generation.
This great poem came at the close of the Jubilee exercises and struck the world with a surprise. While Mr. Kipling has long been regarded as a great writer of fiction, and a strong poet, the deep note of strength, the undertone of volcanic earnestness, as well as the profound religious faith of the Recessional, were qualities which had not been attributed to Mr. Kipling by the majority of people. Yet, as Dr. George Horr, one of our brightest editors, has clearly set forth, Kipling, both as novelist and poet, has always portrayed the manly, strenuous side of life. He does not falter at putting before us ugly representations of vice, but beneath all the roughness and viciousness of men whom he describes, he reveals to us the real bedrock of genuine manliness. He never seeks to make us admire a cheat, a sneak, or a mountebank of any kind. Even in his most unconventional stories there is a Puritan strain in his temper, both in mental and moral quality, which holds him to the great essential moralities.
It is certainly appropriate that such a man should have eyes to see the profound religious side of the Queen’s Jubilee, for at the bottom, everything that is real, that is manly and heroic, is also religious. It is not to be marveled at that this keen student of human nature and of human history should have been able to perceive that “the far-flung battle line,” “the dominion over palm and pine,” “the tumult and the shouting,” “the captains and the kings,” and “the far-called navies” are only dust and ashes, unless God lives in the hearts and controls the character of those who wield these instruments; and that “the frantic boast,” and “the foolish word” may pull a national structure down upon the heads of a people drunken with their own power and riches. The sublime and solemn refrain of the poem, —
“Lest we forget – lest we forget,”
called back not only the British people in all parts of the world, but the conscience of all civilization, to the one abiding source of human power.
The fact that Kipling’s poem touched the heart of the English-speaking world as nothing else connected with the Jubilee did, is, as Doctor Horr states, “a profound testimony to the existence and dominance of the religious instinct in the Anglo-Saxon race. We have often been told that luxury, and pride, and gross materialism, have quenched the Puritan spirit. We have never believed that, though it has been hard sometimes to maintain the contrary against almost overwhelming evidence. But under the breath of a moral issue the smouldering fire has leaped into flame. The poet who elicits this temper, interprets it to itself, and gives it form and voice, renders a service to the higher interests of the race that can hardly be computed. Religion has not lost its hold when such lines as these are universally recognized as the noblest feature of the Jubilee: —
“If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not thee in awe;
Such boasting 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.”
Mr Edward Bok, the brilliant editor of the Ladies’ Home Journal, secured the service of the celebrated composer Reginald de Koven to compose suitable music for this poem, and it was published in that magazine in the issue for May, 1898. De Koven’s music promises to be a great success. On last Memorial Sunday, May 29, the Recessional was sung to De Koven’s music by church choirs in every large town and city in the United States. Surely nothing could be more appropriate for Americans to sing at the present time than the Recessional. It is a time when it is important that the citizens of our proud Republic shall remember that not in her vast territory, or inexhaustible wealth, or in mighty navy or splendid army, but in the blessing of Almighty God lies the real strength of a nation. Kipling’s august prayer and refrain is as appropriate for us as for Great Britain: —
“Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget – lest we forget!”