Maybe there were Watchers in Kipling's family ...

[mythichistorian]

I felt like posting a little poetry spam tonight - so I went and trawled various poetry sites (as one does), and was led - I suppose inevitably for me - to the works of Rudyard Kipling, who, despite some very suspect Imperialism (the product of his time), still manages to produce some stirring verse.  The sort you can declaim - which I guess makes

Comments

[meaghann]

what a great plot buny to ponder over though, thanks :)

[mythichistorian]

You're welcome. :-)

[gileswench]

Ooooh, lots of ideas from that one. Damn you and your plotbunnies!

[mythichistorian]

I can't help it, you know ... *g*

But you're right. There are all sorts of ways this might inspire. I'm vaguely tempted by a Kim style 'Slayer in Imperial India' tale myself. (Giles - an ancestral version of him, of course - the smartly uniformed man of the regiment, disgusing himself as a tribesman of the Northwest frontier ... Vampires haunting the streets of Calcutta, and nesting in profaned temples ... the Slayer dressing up as an urchin boy ... Oh yes, lots to play with in there ...)

But the verse itself could - and probably should - inspire at least one tale of Sunnydale. You going to write it? *g*

[hobgoblinn]

Oh, that is so beautifully appropriate. Thanks for sharing it.

You are aware, aren't you, of theblackmare's "Blood Oranges", aren't you? Giles reads some very appropriate Kipling to his Slayer in it. I'll dig up the link for you if you haven't seen it. It's brilliant.

[mythichistorian]

Oh, yes - I was greatly impressed by 'Blood Oranges.' And not just because of the Kipling. It's a beautifully crafted story and well worth reading for all sorts of reasons.

[pennski]

Strangely, I was getting "Lord of the Rings" vibes from it, with the first World War references made more explicit. Did Kipling write this before or after losing his son?

[mythichistorian]

The Naulahka was written in 1892, so several years before he lost his son. His own experiences with campaigns in India would have contriobuted, I would have thought - war is war (and hell) whenever and wherever it's fought. I see what you mean about the LOTR vibes though - it does have a Land of Mordor/Black gate echo about it.

I guess that's the wonderful thing about poetry - it's not just what the poet intended, it's what the reader brings to it and how they relate to what it says ...