Explore "The Question" by Rudyard Kipling on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
1916.
Brethren, how shall it fare with me / When the war is laid aside, / If it be proven that I am he / For whom a world has died?
If it be proven that all my good, / And the greater good I will make, / Were purchased me by a multitude / Who suffered for my sake?
That I was delivered by mere mankind / Vowed to one sacrifice, / And not, as I hold them, battle-blind, / But dying with open eyes?
That they did not ask me to draw the sword / When they stood to endure their lot -- / That they only looked to me for a word, / And I answered I knew them not?
If it be found, when the battle clears, / Their death has set me free, / Then how shall I live with myself through the years / Which they have bought for me?
Brethren, how must it fare with me, / Or how am I justified, / If it be proven that I am he / For whom mankind has died, / If it be proven that I am he / Who being questioned denied?