Romulus and Remus

by Rudyard Kipling

Oh, little did the Wolf-Child care,
 When first he planned his home, 
What City should arise and bear
 The weight and state of Rome.

A shiftless, westward-wandering tramp,
 Checked by the Tiber flood,
He reared a wall around his camp
 Of uninspired mud.

But when his brother leaped the Wall
 And mocked its height and make,
He guessed the future of it all
 And slew him for its sake.

Swift was the blow, swift as the thought
 Which showed him in that hour
How unbelief may bring to naught
 The early steps of Power.

Foreseeing Time's imperilled hopes
 Of Glory, Grace, and Love,
All singers, Caesars, artists, Popes,
 Would fail if Remus throve,

He sent his brother to the Gods,
 And, when the fit was o'er,
Went on collecting turves and clods
 To build the Wall once more!