Transcribed from the 1892 David Nutt edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org THE SONG OF THE SWORD AND OTHER VERSES BY W. E. HENLEY LONDON Published by DAVID NUTT in the Strand 1892 To R. T. Hamilton-Bruce _Edinburgh_, _Mar._ 17, 1892 _With three exceptions_, _these numbers have appeared in_ '_The National Observer_,' _by permission of whose proprietors they are here reprinted_. THE SONG OF THE SWORD (To Rudyard Kipling) _The Sword_ _Singing_-- _The voice of the Sword from the heart of the Sword_ _Clanging imperious_ _Forth from Time's battlements_ _His ancient and triumphing Song_. In the beginning, Ere God inspired Himself Into the clay thing Thumbed to His image, The vacant, the naked shell Soon to be Man: Thoughtful He pondered it, Prone there and impotent, Fragile, inviting Attack and discomfiture: Then, with a smile-- As He heard in the Thunder That laughed over Eden The voice of the Trumpet, The iron Beneficence, Calling His dooms To the Winds of the world-- Stooping, He drew On the sand with His finger A shape for a sign Of His way to the eyes That in wonder should waken, For a proof of His will To the breaking intelligence: That was the birth of me: I am the Sword. Hard and bleak, keen and cruel, Short-hilted, long-shafted, I froze into steel: And the blood of my elder, His hand on the hafts of me, Sprang like a wave In the wind, as the sense Of his strength grew to ecstasy, Glowed like a coal At the throat of the furnace, As he knew me and named me The War-Thing, the Comrade, Father of honour And giver of kingship, The fame-smith, the song-master, Bringer of women On fire at his hands For the pride of fulfilment, _Priest_ (saith the Lord) _Of his marriage with victory_. Ho! then, the Trumpet, Handmaid of heroes, Calling the peers To the place of espousal! Ho! then, the splendour And sheen of my ministry, Clothing the earth With a livery of lightnings! Ho! then, the music Of battles in onset And ruining armours, And God's gift returning In fury to God! Glittering and keen As the song of the winter stars, Ho! then, the sound Of my voice, the implacable Angel of Destiny!-- I am the Sword.