Poem by Rudyard Kipling

The Rabbi's Song

"The House Surgeon"--Actions and Reactions
                    2 Samuel XIV. 14.


If Thought can reach to Heaven,
  On Heaven let it dwell,
For fear the Thought be given
  Like power to reach to Hell.
For fear the desolation
  And darkness of thy mind
Perplex an habitation 
  Which thou hast left behind.

Let nothing linger after--
  No whimpering gost remain,
In wall, or beam, or rafter,
  Of any hate or pain.
Cleans and call home thy spirit,
  Deny her leave to cast,
On aught thy heirs inherit,
  The shadow of her past.

For think, in all thy sadness,
  What road our griefs may take;
Whose brain reflect our madness,
  Or whom our terrors shake:
For think, lest any languish
  By cause of thy distress--
The arrows of our anguish
  Fly farther than we guess.

Our lives, our tears, as water,
  Are spilled upon the ground;
God giveth no man quarter,
  Yet God a means hath found,
Though Faith and Hope have vanished,
  And even Love grows dim--
A means whereby His banished
  Be not expelled from Him!

1. The First Chantey
2. The Cursing of Stephen
3. «Limits and Renewals». 1932. 19. Azrael's Count
4. The Jester
5. Anchor Song

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