Gods of the East

written by


« Reload image

Because I sought it far from men,
 In deserts and alone,
 I found it burning overhead,
 The jewel of a Throne.

  Because I sought-I sought it so
  And spent my days to find-
  It blazed one moment ere it left
  The blacker night behind.

 We be the Gods of the East-
  Older than all-
 Masters of Mourning and Feast-
  How shall we fall?

 *

This I saw when the rites were done,
  And the lamps were dead and the Gods alone,
  And the grey snake coiled on the altar stone-
  Ere I fled from a Fear that I could not see,
  And the Gods of the East made mouths at me.

© Rudyard Kipling