For Veterans Day

[bedlamsbard]

To-day, across our fathers' graves,
The astonished years reveal
The Remnant of that desperate host
Which cleansed our East with steel.

Hail and farewell! We greet you here,
With tears that none will scorn --
O Keepers of the House of old,
Or ever we were born!

One service more we dare to ask --
Pray for us, heroes, pray,
That when Fate lays on us our task
We do not shame the Day!

-- Rudyard Kipling, "The Veterans" -- Written for the gathering of survivors of the Indian Mutiny, Albert Hall, 1907


I have made for you a song,
And it may be right or wrong,
But only you can tell me if it's true.
I have tried for you to explain
Both your pleasure and your pain,
And, Thomas, here's my best respects to you!

O there'll surely come a day
When they'll give you all your pay,
And treat you as a Christian ought to do;
So, until that day comes round,
Heaven keep you safe and sound,
And, Thomas, here's my best respects to you!

-- Rudyard Kipling, "To Thomas Atkins" -- Prelude to "Barrack-Room Ballads"