The heathen gods, finite in power, wit, birth, Yet worshiped for their good deeds to men, At first kept stations between heaven and earth, Alike just to the castle and the den; Creation, merit, nature duly weighed, And yet, in show, no rule, but will obeyed. Till time, and selfness, which turn worth to arts, Love into compliments, and things to thought, Found out new circles to enthrall men's hearts By laws, wherein while thrones seem overwrought, Power finely hath surprised this faith of man, And taxed his freedom at more than he can. For, to the scepters, judges laws reserve As well the practice as expounding sense, From which no innocence can painless swerve, They being engines of omnipotence. With equal shows, then, is not humble man Here finely taxed at much more than he can? Our modern tyrants, by more gross ascent, Although they found distinction in the state Of church, law, custom, people's government, Mediums, at least, to give excess a rate, Yet fatally have tried to change this frame, And, make will law, man's wholesome laws but name. For when power once hath trod this path of might, And found how place advantageously extended Wanes, or confoundeth all inferiors' right With thin lines hardly seen, but never ended; It straight drowns in this gulf of vast affections, Faith, truth, worth, law, all popular protections. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BLISSFUL DAY by ROBERT BURNS A MOTHER TO HER SICK CHILD by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES CHELSEA by LILLIAN M. (PETTES) AINSWORTH THE OUTCAST'S DREAM by OLIVE BELL LARABELLE; CANTO THIRD by LEVI BISHOP THE CONJUNCTION OF JUPITER AND VENUS by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT |