Author: Rudyard Kipling

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Here, where my fresh-turned furrows run,
 And the deep soil glistens red,
 I will repair the wrong that was done
 To the living and the dead.
 Here, where the senseless bullet fell,
 And the barren shrapnel burst,
 I will plant a tree, I will dig a well,
 Against the heat and the thirst.


 Here, in a large and a sunlit land,
 Where no wrong bites to the bone,
 I will lay my hand in my neighbour's hand,
 And together we will atone
 For the set folly and the red breach
 And the black waste of it all;
 Giving and taking counsel each
 Over the cattle-kraal.


 Here will we join against our foes,
 The hailstroke and the storm,
 And the red and rustling cloud that blows
 The locust's mile-deep swarm.
 Frost and murrain and floods let loose
 Shall launch us side by side
 In the holy wars that have no truce
 'Twixt seed and harvest-tide.


 Earth, where we rode to slay or be slain,
 Our love shall redeem unto life.    
 We will gather and lead to her lips again
 The waters of ancient strife,
 From the far and fiercely guarded streams
 And the pools where we lay in wait,
 Till the corn cover our evil dreams
 And the young corn our hate.


 And when we bring old fights to mind,
 We will not remember the sin,
 If there be blood on his head of my kind,
 Or blood on my head of his kin,
 For the ungrazed upland, the untilled lea
 Cry, and the fields forlorn:
 "The dead must bury their dead, but ye,
 Ye serve an host unborn."


 Bless then, Our God, the new-yoked plough
 And the good beasts that draw,
 And the bread we eat in the sweat of our brow
 According to Thy Law.
 After us cometh a multitude,
 Prosper the work of our hands,
 That we may feed with our land's food
 The folk of all our lands!


 Here, in the waves and the troughs of the plains,
 Where the healing stillness lies,
 And the vast, benignant sky restrains
 And the long days make wise,
 Bless to our use the rain and the sun
 And the blind seed in its bed,
 That we may repair the wrong that was done
 To the living and the dead!

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Type of Poem: Narrative Poem

Date Written:

Date Published:

Language: English

Keywords: Public Domain

Source: Public Domain Collection

Publisher:

Rights/Permissions: Public Domain

Comments/Notes: Rudyard Kipling’s "The Settler" is a Narrative Lyric Poem with strong elements of Reconciliation, Regeneration, and Redemption. Written in the aftermath of colonial conflict—specifically referencing the South African landscape after the Boer War—the poem moves beyond mere political settlement to envision a profound moral and agricultural healing of the scarred land. The central theme is atonement: the idea that through labor, cooperation, and the nurturing of life, the living can redeem past violence and transform sites of death into sources of prosperity for future generations.

The tone is solemn, hopeful, and penitential. Kipling’s narrator, a settler returning to cultivate a land once devastated by battle, pledges to repair "the wrong that was done to the living and the dead" not through grand gestures, but through humble, tireless work: planting trees, digging wells, raising crops. The imagery is vivid and deeply rooted in the earth—furrows, red soil, cattle kraals, ancient streams—linking human reconciliation to the very cycles of nature. Structurally, the poem moves from personal commitment to broader communal vision, where former enemies, side by side, battle the elements rather than each other, united by the common struggle against frost, drought, and pestilence.

Kipling’s understanding of history here is pragmatic and unsentimental. There is an acknowledgment of terrible wrongs ("the set folly and the red breach"), but rather than dwelling on blame, the poem urges that energy be directed toward building a future where "the dead must bury their dead" and the living must serve "an host unborn." The emphasis on working the land, of obeying the natural and divine law through labor and stewardship, reflects Kipling’s deep belief in service, duty, and continuity. Historically, The Settler resonates with broader post-conflict periods of reconstruction, where survival and redemption are found not in vengeance but in shared toil.

Ultimately, "The Settler" is a stirring vision of redemption through labor, reconciliation through necessity, and hope born from the ashes of old hatreds. Kipling captures the hard wisdom that true healing lies not in erasing the past, but in building something better in its place—an inheritance for generations not yet born, watered by effort, humility, and shared resolve.