(In Memoriam, Joseph Chamberlain) <br /> <br />1904 <br /> <br />"And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren and they hated him yet the more." -- Genesis xxxvii. 5. <br /> <br />Oh ye who hold the written clue <br /> To all save all unwritten things, <br />And, half a league behind, pursue <br /> The accomplished Fact with flouts and flings, <br /> Look! To your knee your baby brings <br /> The oldest tale since Earth began -- <br /> The answer to your worryings: <br /> "Once on a time there was a Man." <br /> <br />He, single-handed, met and slew <br /> Magicians, Armies, Ogres, Kings. <br />He lonely 'mid his doubting crew -- <br /> "In all the loneliness of wings " -- <br /> He fed the flame, he filled the springs, <br /> He locked the ranks, he launched the van <br /> Straight at the grinning Teeth of Things. <br /> "Once on a time there was a Man." <br /> <br />The peace of shocked Foundations flew <br /> Before his ribald questionings. <br />He broke the Oracles in two, <br /> And bared the paltry wires and strings. <br /> He headed desert wanderings; <br /> He led his soul, his cause, his clan <br /> A little from the ruck of Things. <br /> "Once on a time there was a Man." <br /> <br />Thrones, Powers, Dominions block the view <br /> With episodes and underlings -- <br />The meek historian deems them true <br /> Nor heeds the song that Clio sings -- <br /> The simple central truth that stings <br /> The mob to boo, the priest to ban; <br /> Things never yet created things -- <br /> "Once on a time there was a Man." <br /> <br />A bolt is fallen from the blue. <br /> A wakened realm full circle swings <br />Where Dothan's dreamer dreams anew <br /> Of vast and farborne harvestings; <br /> And unto him an Empire clings <br /> That grips the purpose of his plan. <br /> My Lords, how think you of these things? <br /> Once -- in our time -- is there a Man?<br /><br />Rudyard Kipling<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/things-and-the-man/
