Romulus and Remus

Kipling’s poem is as bleak an assessment of the world condition today as when he wrote it in 1908. Although he was referencing Canada modern parallels come to mind.

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. 
 
Forseeing Time’s imperilled hopes
  Of Glory, Grace, and Love—
All singers, Cæsars, 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!

This poem, like “Jubal and Tubal Cain”, tells of two brothers with opposing philosophies of life, Romulus the builder and maker, and Remus the sceptic. Romulus kills Remus to silence him, since his ideas are dangerous and would hold back progress to future greatness. Linked to his article “Cities and Spaces”, it reflects Kipling’s powerful sense of the dynamic growth of Canada, and his belief that no criticism should be allowed to hold it back, neither the mockery of Remus, nor the dreams of Jubal Cain. (Poem and analysis by The Kipling Society)

I think of Trump building his “wall” and the relentless steps of power in regimes around the globe. This is not really what Kipling meant but seems to fit the world order today.