Natural Theology (Kipling)

For works with similar titles, see Natural Theology.
Natural Theology
by Rudyard Kipling
420756Natural TheologyRudyard Kipling


                       PRIMITIVE

I ate my fill of a whale that died
     And stranded after a month at sea. . . .
There is a pain in my inside.
     Why have the Gods afflicted me ?
Ow! I am purged till I am a wraith!
     Wow! I am sick till I cannot see!
What is the sense of Religion and Faith ?
     Look how the Gods have afflicted me!

                         PAGAN

How can the skin of rat or mouse hold
     Anything more than a harmless flea ? . . .
The burning plague has taken my household.
     Why have my Gods afflicted me ?
All my kith and kin are deceased,
     Though they were as good as good could be.
I will out and batter the family priest,
     Because my Gods have afflicted me.

                       MEDIÆVAL

My privy and well drain into each other
     After the custom of Christendie. . . .
Fevers and fluxes are wasting my mother.
     Why has the Lord afflicted me ?
The Saints are helpless for all I offer —
     So are the clergy I used to fee.
Henceforward I keep my cash in my coffer,
     Because the Lord has afflicted me.

                      MATERIAL

I run eight hundred hens to the acre.
     They die by dozens mysteriously. . . .
I am more than doubtful concerning my Maker.
     Why has the Lord afflicted me ?
What a return for all my endeavour —
     Not to mention the L. S. D.!
I am an atheist now and for ever,
     Because this God has afflicted me!

                    PROGRESSIVE

Money spent on an Army or Fleet
     Is homicidal lunacy. . . .
My son has been killed in the Mons retreat.
     Why is the Lord afflicting me ?
Why are murder, pillage and arson
     And rape allowed by the Deity ?
I will write to the Times, deriding our parson
     Because my God has afflicted me.

                    CHORUS

We had a kettle: we let it leak:
     Our not repairing it made it worse.
We haven't had any tea for a week. . . .
     The bottom is out of the Universe!

                  CONCLUSION

This was none of the good Lord's pleasure,
     For the Spirit He breathed in Man is free;
But what comes after is measure for measure,
     And not a God that afflicteth thee.
As was the sowing so the reaping
     Is now and evermore shall be.
Thou art delivered to thy own keeping.
     Only Thyself hath afflicted thee!

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.


The longest-living author of this work died in 1936, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 87 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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