Songs for the People.—No. VI.
O had I an eagle’s wings1
To some solitude to flee,2
Where the sound of human things3
Ne’er would come to torture me !4
Give me, give me.but a home,5
In some pathless forest’s shade6
Where with freedom I might roam7
Undisturbed and undismay’d.8
What’s the whole of human life—9
Life refined and civilized—10
One continued round of strife,11
Pain devising and practised !12
Open force and secret guile—13
Envy, jealousy, and hate—14
Pinching, waut, and thriftless toil,15
Mankind’s masses desolate.16
Ye who sceptres. proudly sway17
Over the nations—guilty few—18
With the-teachers whom you pay,19
All this ruin’s wrought by you ;20
Tyrant rulers—Mammon’s priests —21
Foes of God, and pests of man ;22
Know that men are more than beasts,23
Think as well as feel they can !24
Hear ye, whom the few devour,25
Shail this longer suffered be ?26
Are ye not their source of power ?27
Speak the word, and ye are free !28
Kings, queens, and priests may dream,29
Still the many must submit ;30
Chains may clank, and blood may stream,31
There will be a reck’ning yet !*32
*
“ Tears of blood will follow yet.”
—Byron
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