The tumult and the shouting dies; The Captains and the Kings depart: Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice, An humble and a contrite heart. Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget—lest we forget!
ATTRIBUTION:
Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936), British writer, poet. repr. In The Definitive Edition of Rudyard Kipling’s Verse (1940). “Recessional,” st. 2 (1897).
“Lest we forget” was adopted as an epitaph by the War Graves Commission—for which Kipling worked—after World War I....
