Recessional

Blurb

"Recessional" is a poem by Rudyard Kipling, which he composed for the occasion of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897.
The poem is a prayer. It describes two fates that befall even the most powerful people, armies and nations, and that threatened England at the time: passing out of existence, and lapsing from Christian faith into profanity. The prayer entreats God to spare "us" from these fates "lest we forget" the sacrifice of Christ.
The poem went against the celebratory mood of the time, providing instead a reminder of the transient nature of British Imperial power. In the poem Kipling argues that boasting and jingoism, faults of which he was often accused, were inappropriate and vain in light of the permanence of God.
Kipling had previously composed his more famous poem "The White Man's Burden" for Victoria's jubilee, but replaced it with "Recessional". "Burden" was published two years later, altered to fit the theme of the American expansion after the Spanish-American War.
In Australia and New Zealand "Recessional" is sung as a hymn on Anzac Day, to the tune "Melita".