Hymn To Breaking Strain chords by Leslie Fish

Chords with lyrics

Tuning: Standard (E MajorE A augmentedA D MajorD G+G BB E MajorE)

Difficulty: Novice

This is an adaptation of the poem "Hymn Of Breaking Strain" by Rudyard Kipling (1935)


E minorEm             G+G    A augmentedA      C majorC
The careful text-books measure - Let all who build beware!
E minorEm           G+G    A augmentedA      C majorC
The load, the shock, the pressure material can bear:
E minorEm        A minorAm     C majorC   D MajorD   E minorEm
So, when the buckled girder lets down the grinding span
E minorEm        A minorAm     C majorC   D MajorD   E minorEm
The blame of loss, or murder, is laid upon the man
C majorC      D MajorD    E minorEm
Not on the Steel - the Man!

E minorEm             G+G    A augmentedA      C majorC
But, in our daily dealing with stone and steel, we find
E minorEm             G+G    A augmentedA      C majorC
The Gods have no such feeling of justice toward mankind
E minorEm        A minorAm     C majorC   D MajorD   E minorEm
To no set gauge they make us, for no laid course prepare
E minorEm        A minorAm     C majorC   D MajorD   E minorEm
In time they overtake us with loads we cannot bear:
C majorC      D MajorD    E minorEm
Too merciless to bear

E minorEm             G+G    A augmentedA      C majorC
The prudent text-books give it in tables at the end
E minorEm             G+G    A augmentedA      C majorC
The stress that shears a rivet, or makes a tie-bar bend
E minorEm        A minorAm     C majorC   D MajorD   E minorEm
What traffic wrecks macadam - what concrete should endure
E minorEm        A minorAm     C majorC   D MajorD   E minorEm
But we, poor Sons of Adam, have no such literature
C majorC      D MajorD    E minorEm
To warn us or make sure!

E minorEm             G+G    A augmentedA      C majorC
We hold all Earth to plunder - all Time and Space as well
E minorEm             G+G    A augmentedA      C majorC
Too wonder-stale to wonder at each new miracle
E minorEm        A minorAm     C majorC   D MajorD   E minorEm
Till in the mid-illusion of Godhood 'neath our hand
E minorEm        A minorAm     C majorC   D MajorD   E minorEm
Falls multiple confusion on all we did or planned
C majorC      D MajorD    E minorEm
The mighty works we planned

E minorEm             G+G    A augmentedA      C majorC
We only in Creation - how much luckier the bridge and rail!
E minorEm             G+G    A augmentedA      C majorC
Abide the twin damnation: to fail and know we fail
E minorEm        A minorAm     C majorC   D MajorD   E minorEm
Yet we - by which sole token we know we once were Gods
E minorEm        A minorAm     C majorC   D MajorD   E minorEm
Take shame in being broken, however great the odds
C majorC      D MajorD    E minorEm
The Burden or the Odds

E minorEm             G+G    A augmentedA      C majorC
Oh, veiled and secret Power, whose paths we seek in vain
E minorEm             G+G    A augmentedA      C majorC
Be with us in our hour of overthrow and pain
E minorEm        A minorAm     C majorC   D MajorD   E minorEm
That we - by which sure token we know Thy ways are true
E minorEm        A minorAm     E minorEm        A minorAm
In spite of being broken, or because of being broken
C majorC      D MajorD    E minorEm
Rise up and build anew
C majorC      D MajorD    E minorEm
Stand up and build anew!