Read "A British-Roman Song" by Rudyard Kipling online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
(A. D. 406)
My father's father saw it not, / And I, belike, shall never come, / To look on that so-holy spot -- / The very Rome --
Crowned by all Time, all Art, all Might, / The equal work of Gods and Man, / City beneath whose oldest height -- / The Race began!
Soon to send forth again a brood, / Unshakeable, we pray, that clings, / To Rome's thrice-hammered hardihood -- / In arduous things.
Strong heart with triple armour bound, / Beat strongly, for thy life-blood runs, / Age after Age, the Empire round -- / In us thy Sons.
Who, distant from the Seven Hills, / Loving and serving much, require / Thee -- _thee_ to guard 'gainst home-born ills, / The Imperial Fire!