Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SONG OF THE MANY, by HERBERT KAUFMAN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SONG OF THE MANY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: We broke the yoke of the aryan kings
Last Line: We are the many and wear not the chain.
Subject(s): Caesar, Julius (100-44 B.c.); Courts & Courtiers; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens


WE broke the yoke of the Aryan kings,
And we burst our bonds in Cathay;
We waged good war on the Mid-sea shore,
And we conquered the Carthaginian whore;
Babylon's walls to the ground we threw,
And the millions of Timur, the Tartar, we slew;
Istar and Isis we hurled to doom,
And we shrouded foul Nineveh's halls in gloom;
Rome broke her pact and we crumbled her fanes,
Forum and Pantheon rust in the rains;
Attila's curs to their kennels we drove,
And the skull of the ravaging Vandal we clove;
Down through the ages, from Egypt to Spain—
Pharaoh, the Slaver, and Louis, the Vain;
Lust-mad Belshazzar, and Cæsar, who dared—
None who laid hands on our birthright we spared.
Man-god and beast-god and image of stone,
Idol of metal, of hot flesh and bone,
Menacing altar and menacing creed,
Hark to our purpose, and harking, take heed;
None shall be proud with the pride of the wrong;
No head shall lift with a crown in the throng;
None shall be lordly and thrive in his boast,
No king shall be, save the King Uttermost.
Brothers, eternal and well is our might,
Ours is the justice and good is the fight;
Wrought in the fire of souls is our steel,
Tempered in blood shed and bled for the Weal;
They who make shackles, make labor in vain;
We are the Many and wear not the Chain.





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