What
Say the Reeds at
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)
A poem commemorating the signing of
Magna Carta Runnymede, Surrey, June 15, 1215
At Runnymede, at
What say the reeds at
The lissom reeds that give and take,
That bend so far, but never break,
They keep the sleepy
With tales of John at
At Runnymede, at
Oh, hear the reeds at
'You musn't sell, delay, deny,
A freeman's right or liberty.
It wakes the stubborn Englishry,
We saw 'em roused at
When through our ranks the Barons came,
With little thought of praise or blame,
But resolute to play the game,
They lumbered up to
And there they launched in solid line
The first attack on Right Divine,
The curt uncompromising "Sign!'
They settled John at
At Runnymede, at
Your rights were won at
No freeman shall be fined or bound,
Or dispossessed of freehold ground,
Except by lawful judgment found
And passed upon him by his peers.
Forget not, after all these years,
The Charter signed at
And still when mob or Monarch lays
Too rude a hand on English ways,
The whisper wakes, the shudder plays,
Across the reeds at
And
And crowds and priests and suchlike
things,
Rolls deep and dreadful as he brings
Their warning down from
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