# "why should He squander souls?"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-he-squander-souls/189708>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 20, 2003, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-he-squander-souls/189708 "2003-07-20T05:58:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![king\_of\_spain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7cd45c/32.png) [@king\_of\_spain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/king_of_spain)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-he-squander-souls/189708/1 "2003-07-20T05:58:06Z")

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In Neil Gaiman’s _Sandman_, issue #73, “Sunday Mourning,” a character quotes Kipling:

> [@](#):
>
> They will come back, come back again,  
> As long as the red Earth rolls.  
> He never wasted a tree or a leaf.  
> Why should He squander souls?

Can anyone tell me the title of the poem this is (presumably) excerpted from? And if you happen to be able to point me toward a website where I could read the complete poem online, that’d be wonderful.

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**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-he-squander-souls/189708/2 "2003-07-20T06:14:47Z")

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Rudyard Kipling, [The Sack of Valhalla](http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_sack.htm)

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**Author:** ![king\_of\_spain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7cd45c/32.png) [@king\_of\_spain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/king_of_spain)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-he-squander-souls/189708/3 "2003-07-20T16:23:08Z")

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Thank you kindly!