The Widow at Windsor

Rudyard Kipling | Rudyard Kipling

[Clive]

The Widow at Windsor

'Ave you 'eard o' the Widow at Windsor
With a hairy gold crown on 'er 'ead?
She 'as ships on the foam -- she 'as millions at 'ome,
An' she pays us poor beggars in red.
(Ow, poor beggars in red!)

There's 'er nick on the cavalry 'orses,
There's 'er mark on the medical stores --
An' 'er troopers you'll find with a fair wind be'ind
That takes us to various wars.
(Poor beggars! -- barbarious wars!)

Then 'ere's to the Widow at Windsor,
An' 'ere's to the stores an' the guns,
The men an' the 'orses what makes up the forces
O' Missis Victorier's sons.
(Poor beggars! Victorier's sons!)

Walk wide o' the Widow at Windsor,
For 'alf o' Creation she owns:
We 'ave bought 'er the same with the sword an' the flame,
An' we've salted it down with our bones.
(Poor beggars! -- it's blue with our bones!)

Hands off o' the sons o' the Widow,
Hands off o' the goods in 'er shop,
For the Kings must come down an' the Emperors frown
When the Widow at Windsor says "Stop"!
(Poor beggars! -- we're sent to say "Stop"!)

Then 'ere's to the Lodge o' the Widow,
From the Pole to the Tropics it runs --
To the Lodge that we tile with the rank an' the file,
An' open in form with the guns.
(Poor beggars! -- it's always they guns!)

We 'ave 'eard o' the Widow at Windsor,
It's safest to let 'er alone:
For 'er sentries we stand by the sea an' the land
Wherever the bugles are blown.
(Poor beggars! -- an' don't we get blown!)

Take 'old o' the Wings o' the Mornin',
An' flop round the earth till you're dead;
But you won't get away from the tune that they play
To the bloomin' old rag over'ead.
(Poor beggars! -- it's 'ot over'ead!)

Then 'ere's to the sons o' the Widow,
Wherever, 'owever they roam.
'Ere's all they desire, an' if they require
A speedy return to their 'ome.
(Poor beggars! -- they'll never see 'ome!)

[Clive]

As I said on another thread:

There is a logic of empire that requires the pre-eminent world power to press on regardless.

Pax Americana has enherited that logic of empire from Pax Britannica.

[Clive]

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[GeronL]

great title job

**snicker**

[GeronL]

whoops

[solzhenitsyn]

Clive, you know that it is dishonest to compare what this good country is doing in Iraq with an empire that invaded foreign countries without cause, defeated and conquered them, subjugated and owned them for centuries, and denied their people basic human rights. That is quite a different matter from liberating 25 million Iraqis from the Hitler of our generation.

You are insinuating a despicable lie, and you certainly know it. Shame on you.

[Clive]

Read the poem again, and read my comments again.

As the pre-eminent world power, the United States is in a position whereby it really has no option but to deal with bandits and bandit regimes such as Afghanistan and Iraq. There is no other power with the abiity and will to do it and to abdicate that "logic of empire" will be to allow the spread of a cancer,

That is pretty much why Britain went into Khartoom. Sure, the proximate cause was the capture of Gordon, but the real casus belli was to nip a cancerous growth in the bud.

Nations must act in their own best interest and a pre-eminent world power must act to preserve that pre-eminence. Otherwise, you could find yourself with the barbarian at the gate.

Bandit regimes continue to exist and work mischief only so long as world powers let them.

Use it or lose it.

When I grew up, the judicious use of military force was not a concept deemed so awful that we would refuse to study its uses and limitations.

[Clive]

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[ikka]

Interesting point, however, with a strong immigration policy, strong borders, and the natural barriers of two large oceans on either side, it would not actually be necessary.

Only the threat of terrorism provides justification for Pax Americana, along with a mercantilist influence that is willing to use the force of govt to open and maintain overseas markets.

[Clive]

Isolationism died on December 6, 1941.

Or perhaps it is only in a prolonged coma.

But to revive it in today's mileau would require that Canada and Mexico be absorbed into a North American confederation and that the Caribbean and South American countries become clients.

And do we have all needed raw materials and fuels within our natural barriers?

What then happens in the rest of the world, faced with a rapidly expanding islamic theocratic hegemony, when the only effective restraining force has withdrawn into its shell.

And what happens when that hegemony becomes powerful enough for direct confrontation.

The oceans are not as wide today as they were in 1941.

[Clive]

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[tet68]

Take the wings of the morning,
Pierce the barcan wilderness......

....go not like the galley slave, scourged to his oar,
but draw the mantle of your couch about you and
like the sleeper, lie down to pleasant dreams....

sorry that's all I can remember, Masefield wasn't it?

Empire or not, isolation is not an option.
If we are to be the policeman of the world, let us at least be a good one.

[Brian Allen]

<< Use it or lose it. >>

Now there is a Tenet worthy of our dedicated attention.

And, so mote it be!

Thank you, Clive -- for all you do -- but, today, especially for this Rudyard -- and all it symbolizes.

Blessings -- Brian

[Clive]

It was Thanatopsis, by William Cullen Bryant:

Here is the last stanza:

So live, that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan which moves
To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 80
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.

---------------------------------------------------

"Empire or not, isolation is not an option.
If we are to be the policeman of the world, let us at least be a good one."

Well said.

[Clive]

Thank you.

[tet68]

I had to memorize it in high school but that was a while ago.

Really, our situation is an extention of what we see locally, we can live in gated communities to protect ourselves as many do,(and in doing so trade security for
freedom.)or we can choose to go after the criminals and
make THEIR lives hard. Seems rather simple to me, but
the Dims want to equate criminal behavour with everyone elses, and look for the "root" causes, they want to be "humaine", they feel this tremendous GUILT for their
ancestors success and want to atone for it.

Well, we'll see how they feel in four years.

[Clive]

I was fortunate. I read Kipling instead.

And such poetry as The Ballad of the Revenge.

And such passages as the Saint Crispin's Day Speech from Henry V by Shakespeare.

We were learning things beyond the poetry without realizing it until we were older.

[tet68]

We didn't get that in school, I had to learn it myself.
I went to Vietnam knowing little of politics,
I have spent the intervening years learning that too.

Democrats seem to think the only responsiblity Americans have is paying taxes, but the biggest responsibility we have is keeping an eye on our own government.
One which the democrats have held in thrall for too many
years.
We must make NO mistake, to have the democrats control our
government in time of war, would be a fatal error for many of us, and NOT from the enemy either.

[solzhenitsyn]

Clive, I'm very sorry for my harsh words. I missed your point.

[Clive]

Thank you.