Rudyard Kipling, b. 1835, d. 1936

Here’s my post last year on this date, and I think it was almost prescient–except it was the Spanish who cut and ran and the Italians who honored bravery with bravery. And here’s another Kipling poem for this birthday:

When Earth’s last picture is painted and the tubes are twisted and dried,
When the oldest colours have faded, and the youngest critic has died,
We shall rest, and, faith, we shall need it — lie down for an aeon or two,
Till the Master of All Good Workmen shall put us to work anew!

And those that were good shall be happy: they shall sit in a golden chair;
They shall splash at a ten-league canvas with brushes of comets’ hair;
They shall find real saints to draw from — Magdalene, Peter, and Paul;
They shall work for an age at a sitting and never be tired at all!

And only the Master shall praise us, and only the Master shall blame;
And no one shall work for money, and no one shall work for fame,
But each for the joy of the working, and each, in his separate star,
Shall draw the Thing as he sees It for the God of Things as They Are!

Work for the joy of working and plenty of time to do whatever you’re called to do. It sounds heavenly to me.

One thought on “Rudyard Kipling, b. 1835, d. 1936

  1. Ahhhh! Kipling was a name we bandied about for one of our sons.

    We figured one child named after an English poet was enough, though.

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