A Servant When He Reigneth Poem by Rudyard Kipling

A Servant When He Reigneth

Rating: 2.8


Three things make earth unquiet
And four she cannot brook
The godly Agur counted them
And put them in a book --
Those Four Tremendous Curses
With which mankind is cursed;
But a Servant when He Reigneth
Old Agur entered first.
An Handmaid that is Mistress
We need not call upon.
A Fool when he is full of Meat
Will fall asleep anon.
An Odious Woman Married
May bear a babe and mend;
But a Servant when He Reigneth
Is Confusion to the end.

His feet are swift to tumult,
His hands are slow to toil,
His ears are deaf to reason,
His lips are loud in broil.
He knows no use for power
Except to show his might.
He gives no heed to judgment
Unless it prove him right.

Because he served a master
Before his Kingship came,
And hid in all disaster
Behind his master's name,
So, when his Folly opens
The unnecessary hells,
A Servant when He Reigneth
Throws the blame on some one else.

His vows are lightly spoken,
His faith is hard to bind,
His trust is easy boken,
He fears his fellow-kind.
The nearest mob will move him
To break the pledge he gave --
Oh, a Servant when he Reigneth
Is more than ever slave!

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Greg Dent 14 July 2005

I read this pearl of wisdom(and prophesy) to my children the day Bill Clinton became President!

7 4 Reply
BEAU GOLDEN 27 September 2007

This poem is insightful, so applying it to the ineptness of one administration is folly. They are all inept. The US govt is a big fat pig that will be gutted.

6 1 Reply
Bernard F. Asuncion 08 November 2016

Oh, a Servant when he Reigneth Is more than ever slave! A slave is not greater than the Master.....The Master HImself has served the sinners who are all slaved by sin....

3 0 Reply
Edward Kofi Louis 08 November 2016

Hard to bind! Thanks for sharing this poem with us.

2 0 Reply
Savita Tyagi 08 November 2016

Excellent write. Leaders and citizens both need to be reminded of that.

2 0 Reply
Britte Ninad 09 August 2018

Beautifully written this poem I would like to read this poem again and again

0 0 Reply
Sushama Biju 22 June 2018

Nice and sweet poem

1 0 Reply
Lea- Beima Dorestin 08 November 2017

The rhyme scheme is amazing! ! ! ! Quite deserving of being poem of the day👏👏💯

1 0 Reply
Sakalabaktula Sairaj 08 November 2017

so nice poem i read it keep it up, , superb superb superb

1 0 Reply
Md Shahadat Hossain 08 November 2017

it has a great inner meaning what touched my feelings. Thanks anyway for sharing with us...

1 0 Reply
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