A Servant When He Reigneth / Rudyard Kipling

Three things make earth unquiet 
And four she cannot brook 
The godly Agur counted them 
And put them in a book - 
Those Four Tremendous Curses 
With which mankind is cursed; 
But a Servant when He Reigneth 
Old Agur entered first. 
An Handmaid that is Mistress 
We need not call upon. 
A Fool when he is full of Meat 
Will fall asleep anon. 
An Odious Woman Married 
May bear a babe and mend; 
But a Servant when He Reigneth 
Is Confusion to the end. 

His feet are swift to tumult, 
His hands are slow to toil, 
His ears are deaf to reason, 
His lips are loud in broil. 
He knows no use for power 
Except to show his might. 
He gives no heed to judgment 
Unless it prove him right. 

Because he served a master 
Before his Kingship came, 
And hid in all disaster 
Behind his master's name, 
So, when his Folly opens 
The unnecessary hells, 
A Servant when He Reigneth 
Throws the blame on some one else. 

His vows are lightly spoken, 
His faith is hard to bind, 
His trust is easy broken, 
He fears his fellow-kind. 
The nearest mob will move him 
To break the pledge he gave - 
Oh, a Servant when he Reigneth 
Is more than ever slave!