OF Liberty, Reforms and Rights I sing, Freedom, I mean, without or Church or King; Freedom to seize and keep whate'er I can, And boldly claim my right -- The Rights of Man: Such is the blessed liberty in vogue, The envied liberty to be a rogue; The right to pay no taxes, tithes or dues; The liberty to do whate'er I choose; The right to take by violence and strife My neighbour's goods and, if I please, his life; The liberty to raise a mob or riot, For spoil and plunder ne'er were got by quiet; The right to level and reform the great; The liberty to overturn the state; The right to break through all the nation's laws, And boldly dare to take rebellion's cause: Let all be equal, every man my brother; Why have one property, and not another? Why suffer titles to give awe and fear? There shall not long remain one British peer; Nor shall the criminal appalled stand Before the mighty judges of the land; Nor judge nor jury shall there longer be, Nor any jail, but every prisoner free; All law abolished and, with sword in hand, We'll seize the property of all the land. Then hail to Liberty, Reform and Riot! Adieu, Contentment, Safety, Peace and Quiet! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SWEET STAY-AT-HOME by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES TALES OF A WAYSIDE INN: THE SECOND DAY: LADY WENTWORTH by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW PRO PATRIA MORI by THOMAS MOORE OPEN THY HEART by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS ON HOMER'S BIRTHPLACE by ANTIPATER OF SIDON SPRING THOUGHTS by FLORENCE E. BALDWIN |