 | Areytos or songs and ballads of the South |  |
SONNET.—WHY THE TYRANT?
[I.]
We make our monsters as we make our gods!The ideal shapes the creature. In our aim
Lies all the difference betwixt pride and shame;
Thus are we whipt at last by our own rods!
Thus are we slaves and victims! We create
The tyrant that subdues us; who but comes
The creature of our call; and, if he dooms,
Why groan? We've made him master of our fate:
The scourge that whips for virtue in decay!
And, if a tyrant, not for us to curse;
We needed ere we call'd him—needed worse;
And proper is submission to the sway
That chastens to reform us. He may be
A monster—but what baser things are we!
II.
Take to thyself one living truth, and knowThat never yet, while virtue in a race
Presided dominant, did tyrant grow;
He is God's absolute angel—in his place;
The best for sway when men grow weak and base.
124
Low aims, and foul desires, and mean pursuits;
And it is proper, when men sink to brutes,
They should be leash'd and scourged! We may not trust
Free will to those whose will still foully shows;
Must mock them with denial: nay, give blows,
And bondage, if it needs! And this is just!
And though we slay the tyrant when we can,
He's one of the necessities of man!
| Areytos or songs and ballads of the South | |