Wonderful poem by Kipling

I recently found this wonderful poem. Just for interpretation, Gods of the Market place is Government, Gods of Copybook Headings is "common sense". It helps with what the poem is trying to get across.
http://www.olimu.com/readings/GodsOfTheCopybookHeadings.htm

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place;
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four—
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man—
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began:—
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will bum,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

3 CHX & ADOOD

Hayden and some other people at his recital.

Girls' Day, 2010

Nauvoo, once again

Had a weekend of no rain, warm weather...so what comes to mind? Favorite place in Illinois, Nauvoo. We began the trek just deciding where to go. I was thinking Mississippi Palisades since I've never been th

ere before. Then it hit...Memorial day weekend. Longer trips are in order. Tracy got the stuff packed and I had the arduous task of staying out of her way. Aside from a small panic of not finding a temple recommend, it was a quick trip out. Tracy went in the temple for a session and I set up camp. To hear Tracy say it, I picked the worst spot, but it was on the top of hill, right next to the lake.

The e

vening was uneventful except for a brief moment of panic when I couldn’t identify a sound. It sounded like a huge winged insect, going back and forth outside of the tent, deciding whether or not to attack…then I remembered that there were probably bull frogs out there.

Then next day was uneventful for me really, which is what I wanted. I followed the family around for some of the restorations there, and then I stayed at the camp with a napping child for the

most of the afternoon. Tracy and the family went to a play around 7 and I went to look at the river with Hayden. We did make a brief trip to the old cemetery there. On the lot was a newer headstone with “Durfey” as the name. The man died in 1845 and his wife died in Winter Quarters in 1850. “They consecrated everything to the Lord”. I am sadder at the knowledge that she died so far away from home, probably on the way west to join the saints. We just don’t know what sacrifice really is.

I look back with a good deal of fondness

at the building of the Nauvoo Temple. I’m sure I’m not the only one. I watched the webcam on the internet. I volunteered twice for the open house. I wandered the halls of the old catholic school that the church bought as part of the temple construction. (The building has since been torn down, making way for an incredible view of the Mississippi River as well as the restored flats.) I have only visited the temple proper a few times since the construction. I remember being in the celestial room there just marveling at what the Lord has done for his people.

Sunday held the promise of being a hot and miserable day, with rain that evening and on Monday. I made the executive decision to head for home. After a lunch at Fort Madison, my next to favorite place (trains, barges and bridges), we came home.