May 8, 2010

More Kipling


If Kipling's wisdom keeps bobbing up in my web surfing, you'll soon believe this is a poetry blog! I discovered this in the comments section of Bill Whittle's piece entitled Tribes. If you have any insight into some of the more difficult lines of the following poem, I'd love to have a discussion in the comments.

The Sons of Martha

The Sons of Mary seldom bother, for they have inherited that good part;
But the Sons of Martha favour their Mother of the careful soul and troubled heart.
And because she lost her temper once, and because she was rude to the Lord her Guest,
Her Sons must wait upon Mary's Sons, world without end, reprieve, or rest.

It is their care in all the ages to take the buffet and cushion the shock.
It is their care that the gear engages; it is their care that the switches lock.
It is their care that the wheels run truly; it is their care to embark and entrain,
Tally, transport, and deliver duly the Sons of Mary by land and main.

They say to mountains, 'Be ye removed'. They say to the lesser floods, 'Be dry'.
Under their rods are the rocks reproved - they are not afraid of that which is high.
Then do the hill-tops shake to the summit - then is the bed of the deep laid bare,
That the Sons of Mary may overcome it, pleasantly sleeping and unaware.

They finger death at their gloves' end where they piece and repiece the living wires.
He rears against the gates they tend: they feed him hungry behind their fires.
Early at dawn, ere men see clear, they stumble into his terrible stall,
And hale him forth like a haltered steer, and goad and turn him till evenfall.

To these from birth is Belief forbidden; from these till death is Relief afar.
They are concerned with matter hidden - under the earthline their altars are;
The secret fountains to follow up, waters withdrawn to restore to the mouth,
And gather the floods as in a cup, and pour them again at a city drouth.

They do not preach that their God will rouse them a little before the nuts work loose.
They do not teach that His Pity allows them to leave their work when they damn-well choose.
As in the thronged and the lighted ways, so in the dark and the desert they stand.
Wary and watchful all their days that their brethren's days may be long in the land.

Raise ye the stone or cleave the wood to make a path more fair or flat:
Lo, it is black already with blood some Son of Martha spilled for that:
Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a witness to any creed,
But simple service simply given to his own kind in their common need.

And the Sons of Mary smile and are blessed - they know the angels are on their side.
They know in them is the Grace confessed, and for them are the Mercies multiplied.
They sit at the Feet - they hear the Word - they see how truly the Promise Runs:
They have cast their burden upon the Lord, and - the Lord He lays it on Martha's Sons.

Rudyard Kipling

5 comments:

The Western Chauvinist said...

I'll be the first to comment. I apologize for the formatting of this post. I hate what blogspot does to the line breaks of this poem!

Cathy said...

Wow. Well. It's late and I'm off to bed, but I will be reading this several more times.

Discussion will happen.

Cathy said...

I'm tempted to google this for an expert's analysis.

Reading it as a literal assessment of the Martha and Mary story, my 'take' at is that Kipling has some pretty serious disdain for people of faith who indulge in what I think you refer to as unholy piety. " They know in them is the Grace confessed"

But it seems he doesn't let Jesus off the hook, either: "And because she lost her temper once, and because she was rude to the Lord her Guest, Her Sons must wait upon Mary's Sons."

Hmmmm. But of course he can't mean it literally because he and we know he's made up this story about the sons/cousins and is therefore using it as a metaphor for humanity's topsy turvy attitudes.

Pick a line. I'm up for it. To my eyes - all the imagery refers to the people who make the world work and keep it safe. They create electricity and build roads and ships whilst the sheep enjoy the fruits of their (the sheepdogs') unsung labor.

Yes. If you allow that Kipling is merely using the Martha and Mary story as a serious finger-wagging at the hypocrisy of secular religions - it's a powerful chorus to Whittle's 'Tribes'.

And now, I must insist that you wade in on this ;-)

The Western Chauvinist said...

Well - the little I've read from the experts indicates Kipling wrote this (or it was at least used) for a right of initiation for engineers in Canada! Obviously it speaks to a broader audience, but I love the story, having some association with engineers and engineering myself!

I would agree with you about him being hard on Jesus too, except I think he is acknowledging the tragic view from a Christian perspective. We are sinners (she was rude) and we'll suffer using the example of Jesus (unappreciated self-sacrifice), until we finally have our Relief (at death).

These are among the toughest lines for me though...

"To these from birth is Belief forbidden; from these till death is Relief afar.
They are concerned with matter hidden - under the earthline their altars are;
The secret fountains to follow up, waters withdrawn to restore to the mouth,"

Someone I read suggested that the "Belief" he is referring to is the naive faith (useful idiocy) in the permanence of civilization. "If I flip this switch, the lights will always come on." Or, "We can continue to pay Social Security and insure the entire population despite the massive and growing deficits and debt." I think this makes sense.

If you agree, would you then interpret the lines that follow to be references to the subterranean infrastructure (the civilizational foundation and the unappreciated efforts of the sheepdog)? I'm sure there's more that I'm missing though because of his choice of words (earthline, altars, secret fountain, waters withdrawn to restore the mouth).

Cathy said...

Fascinating that he gave this to engineers because those disturbing lines you referenced were followed by these lines whose subject I interpreted as engineers whose faith rests on empirical facts and through their skills bring ancient flood waters back above the earthline to quench the needs of city dwellers:

"They are concerned with matter hidden - under the earthline their altars are;
The secret fountains to follow up, waters withdrawn to restore to the mouth,
And gather the floods as in a cup, and pour them again at a city drouth."

Now I'm reading it as a literal paean to engineers and their skills, but I think the poem is very amenable to denser interpretations and a ringing endorsement of the sheepdogs.

And I thought those lines about creating and harnessing electricity were as powerful and frightening as the energy they described. His imagery there is awesome.

"They finger death at their gloves' end where they piece and repiece the living wires.
He rears against the gates they tend: they feed him hungry behind their fires.
Early at dawn, ere men see clear, they stumble into his terrible stall . . " {{Woo!}}