From A Pilgrim's Way by Rudyard KiplingI was reading on the Masonic Society Forum this morning and found the above poem by Brother Rudyard Kipling. I also found this information,
But when I meet with frantic folk who sinfully declare
There is no pardon for their sin, the same I will not spare
Till I have proved that Heaven and Hell which in our hearts we have
Show nothing irredeemable on either side of the grave.
For as we live and as we die---if utter Death there be---
The people, Lord, Thy people, are good enough for me!
Deliver me from every pride---the Middle, High, and Low---
That bars me from a brother's side, whatever pride he show.
And purge me from all heresies of thought and speech and pen
That bid me judge him otherwise than I am judged. Amen!
That I may sing of Crowd or King or road-borne company,
That I may labour in my day, vocation and degree,
To prove the same in deed and name, and hold unshakenly
(Where'er I go, whate'er I know, whoe'er my neighbor be)
This single faith in Life and Death and to Eternity:
``The people, Lord, Thy people, are good enough for me!''
"Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was educated at the United Services College in England, and was IPR'd by dispensation (he was under 21 years old) in Lahore, India, in 1886, where he was a journalist on the Civil and Military Gazette. Kipling remained essentially a craft mason all his life and probably never performed any ritual himself, being lodge secretary for much of his short Masonic career, and he did not take the chair of any lodge. He was advanced to the Mark degree in 1887, when he was also elevated into the Mount Ararat Mark Mariners Lodge No. 98. In 1921 he would become a Founder Member of the War Graves Commission Lodge - The Builders of the Silent Cities Lodge No. 12 - in St Omer, France, under the GLNF. His 1937 (posthumously published) autobiography - Something of Myself - also has a number of references to Freemasonry.
Nigel Gallimore
The thread began with this poem:
Rosicrucian subtleties
In the Orient had rise.
You May find their teachers still
Under Jacatala’s Hill.
Seek ye Bombast Paracelsus,
Read what Fludd the Seeker tells us
Of the Dominant that runs
Through the cycles of the Suns.
Read my story last and see
Luna at her apogee.
I first became aware of Brother Kipling's Masonic connection when I went to see the Movie "The Man Who would Be King," Imagine my surprise when they went to the tribe in the mountains and were discovered wearing the Masonic Emblem and Sean Connery's character was made king. (I had missed the first part of the movie and had to stay and watch it last to see the set up for the Masonic emblem) I was a relative novice in Masonry and this was a real surprise to me. Anyway the poem above appeals to me and you can read the whole thing here. Thanks for stopping by. j
1 comment:
Hoyt Woody loved Kipling and was pleasantly surprised when he met another Brother who read Kipling.
When I was young, Gunga Din was a part of the Great Authors literature taught in public school.
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