I just finished reading John Ringo’s outstanding first novel in the Legacy of the Aldenata series, A Hymn Before Battle. Aside from being a terrific writer and a clearly highly literate man, Mr. Ringo is a HUGE Kipling fan. As I’ve stated before, I don’t know of any red-pill type that isn’t a fan of Kipling in some capacity or other. What most people don’t know about Rudyard Kipling is that, as good as his novels and short stories were, in some cases his poems were even better. This one is excerpted and quoted throughout Mr. Ringo’s book; I don’t think I’ve ever seen a finer tribute to warriors by any other writer, ever.
THE EARTH is full of anger,
The seas are dark with wrath,
The Nations in their harness
Go up against our path:
Ere yet we loose the legions—
Ere yet we draw the blade,
Jehovah of the Thunders,
Lord God of Battles, aid!
High lust and froward bearing,
Proud heart, rebellious brow—
Deaf ear and soul uncaring,
We seek Thy mercy now!
The sinner that forswore Thee,
The fool that passed Thee by,
Our times are known before Thee—
Lord, grant us strength to die!
For those who kneel beside us
At altars not Thine own,
Who lack the lights that guide us,
Lord, let their faith atone.
If wrong we did to call them,
By honour bound they came;
Let not Thy Wrath befall them,
But deal to us the blame.
From panic, pride, and terror,
Revenge that knows no rein,
Light haste and lawless error,
Protect us yet again.
Cloak Thou our undeserving,
Make firm the shuddering breath,
In silence and unswerving
To taste Thy lesser death!
Ah, Mary pierced with sorrow,
Remember, reach and save
The soul that comes to-morrow
Before the God that gave!
Since each was born of woman,
For each at utter need—
True comrade and true foeman—
Madonna, intercede!
E’en now their vanguard gathers,
E’en now we face the fray—
As Thou didst help our fathers,
Help Thou our host to-day!
Fulfilled of signs and wonders,
In life, in death made clear—
Jehovah of the Thunders,
Lord God of Battles, hear!
2 Comments
Good stuff. Love his books – and literate as all hell, despite the direct writing style (idjit got me hooked on the Cruxshadows, and Nightwish, as well as Heather Alexander).
Listen to him speak at a panel and he can draw together vastly different fields of knowledge
I watched an interview of him from a while back where he spoke, among other things, of how he is a scholar of Ronald Reagan's work. It became readily apparent that both John Ringo and Ronald Reagan are vastly underrated by the public. And in Ringo's case, his versatility as a writer is astonishing- I love re-reading parts of The Last Centurion, and stylistically that is radically different from his Legacy of the Aldenata books, yet it's the same author and he is somehow able to maintain a near-uniform level of excellence between his works.