Two Races (Brazilian Verses)

by Rudyard Kipling

    I seek not what his soul desires.
    He dreads not what my spirit fears.
    Our Heavens have shown us separate fires.
    Our dooms have dealt us differing years.

    Our daysprings and our timeless dead
    Ordained for us and still control
    Lives sundered at the fountain-head,
    And distant, now, as Pole from Pole.

    Yet, dwelling thus, these worlds apart,
    When we encounter each is free
    To bare that larger, liberal heart
    Our kin and neighbours seldom see.

    (Custom and code compared in jest,
    Weakness delivered without shame,
    And certain common sins confessed
    Which all men know, and none dare blame.)

    E’en so it is, and well content
    It should be so a moment’s space,
    Each finds the other excellent,
    And, runs to follow his own race!