Justice / Rudyard Kipling

Across a world where all men grieve 
And grieving strive the more, 
The great days range like tides and leave 
Our dead on every shore. 
Heavy the load we undergo, 
And our own hands prepare, 
If we have parley with the foe, 
The load our sons must bear.</i> 

Before we loose the word 
That bids new worlds to birth, 
Needs must we loosen first the sword 
Of Justice upon earth; 
Or else all else is vain 
Since life on earth began, 
And the spent world sinks back again 
Hopeless of God and Man. 

A People and their King 
Through ancient sin grown strong, 
Because they feared no reckoning 
Would set no bound to wrong; 
But now their hour is past, 
And we who bore it find 
Evil Incarnate hell at last 
To answer to mankind. 

For agony and spoil 
Of nations beat to dust, 
For poisoned air and tortured soil 
And cold, commanded lust, 
And every secret woe 
The shuddering waters saw. 
Willed and fulfilled by high and low. 
Let them relearn the Low. 

That when the dooms are read, 
Not high nor low shall say:- 
' My haughty or my humble head 
Was saved me in this day.' 
That, till the end of time, 
Their remnant shall recall 
Their fathers old, confederate crime 
Availed them not at all. 

That neither schools nor priests, 
Nor Kings may build again 
A people with the heart of beasts 
Made wise concerning men. 
Whereby our dead shall sleep 
In honour, unbetrayed, 
And we in faith and honour keep 
That peace for which they paid.