 | Poems by John Godfrey Saxe. Complete in one volume : thirty-fifth edition |  |
In vain we boast the freedom Nature gave:
Alas! the Ethiop 's not the only slave!
When from their chains shall Saxon minds be freed,
The slaves to lust, to party, and to creed?
Alas! the Ethiop 's not the only slave!
When from their chains shall Saxon minds be freed,
The slaves to lust, to party, and to creed?
Slaves to their Clique, who favor or oppose,
As crafty leaders pull the party-nose;
While the ‘dear country,’ as the reader learns,
Is saved or ruined in quadrennial turns!
As crafty leaders pull the party-nose;
While the ‘dear country,’ as the reader learns,
Is saved or ruined in quadrennial turns!
Slaves to the Mode, who pinch the aching waist,
And mend God's image to the Gallic taste;
Who sell their comfort for a narrow boot,
Nor heed the ‘corn-laws’ of the suffering foot!
And mend God's image to the Gallic taste;
Who sell their comfort for a narrow boot,
Nor heed the ‘corn-laws’ of the suffering foot!
Slaves to the ruling Sentiment, whose choice
Is but the echo of the public voice,
While their own thoughts the wretches fear to speak,
Not Sundays only, but throughout the week!
Is but the echo of the public voice,
While their own thoughts the wretches fear to speak,
Not Sundays only, but throughout the week!
Slaves to Antiquity, who put their trust
In mouldy dogmas, mummies, moth, and rust;
Who buy old nothings at the highest cost,
And deem no art worth having till it 's lost!
In mouldy dogmas, mummies, moth, and rust;
Who buy old nothings at the highest cost,
And deem no art worth having till it 's lost!
Slaves to their Sect, who deem all heavenly light
Through one small taper cheers the moral night,—
Which, should it fail to throw its radiant spark,
Would leave the hapless nations in the dark!
Through one small taper cheers the moral night,—
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Would leave the hapless nations in the dark!
| Poems by John Godfrey Saxe. Complete in one volume : thirty-fifth edition | |