THE STRANGER WITHIN MY GATE

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The stranger within my gate,

He may be true or kind,

But he does not talk my talk,

I cannot feel his mind.

I see the face and the eyes and the mouth,

But not the soul behind.

.

The stranger within my gate,

He may be evil or good,

But I cannot tell what powers control –

What reasons sway his mood;

Nor when the gods of his far-off land,

Shall repossess his blood.

.

This was my father’s belief,

And this is also mine;

Let the corn be all of one sheaf –

And the grapes be all one vine,

Ere our children’s teeth are set on edge

By bitter bread and wine.

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Rudyard Kipling, Nobel Prize for Literature. (1865 – 1936)

NOTE: In 1979, Michael Walsh appeared at Mold Crown Court in North Wales. He was charged with an offence under the Race Relations Act (incitement to racial hatred).

At the assizes, he received one of six 4-month prison sentences for publishing this famous poem. Mainstream media simply stated that he had been imprisoned for inciting racial hatred.

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