 | New Poems by George Crabbe |  |
Here next some Lines on Freedom may be seen,
When the fair writer counted years fifteen.
Did the sweet girl of school day fetters dream,
And made the love of Liberty her theme?
All should be free, the young Enthusiast sings,
For Freedom makes us of ourselves the kings.
But if the blessing should to all extend,
Then let it not with human beings end;
There are a race of beings whom their pains
And place unite, their scourges and their chains.
Hear how their Keepers Men's attention win:
“The first Collection in the World—walk in.
“The King of Beasts—he rules o'er great & small,
“The Queen, his Wife—a Tygar from Bengal,
“Leopards and Panthers, and a noble Tribe
“That you may see, and therefore to describe
“Is of no use—Walk in—on English Ground,
“Nor on the Earth, is such Collection found.”
I enter. Lo, the Creatures—there they be;
Each in his den, with anguish in his Eye,
And roused by blows that some vile spirit gives,
Shows fearful tokens of the life he lives.
I saw the imprisoned Tribes, their sufferings felt,
And their hard Tale upon my memory dwelt;
Nay, in my Dreams upon my fancy rose
The king of beasts, exprest his Royal Woes,
His nobler Subjects heard with woe profound,
The distant Birds were silent at the Sound,
And all the smaller Tribes stood listening all around:
When the fair writer counted years fifteen.
Did the sweet girl of school day fetters dream,
And made the love of Liberty her theme?
All should be free, the young Enthusiast sings,
For Freedom makes us of ourselves the kings.
84
Then let it not with human beings end;
There are a race of beings whom their pains
And place unite, their scourges and their chains.
Hear how their Keepers Men's attention win:
“The first Collection in the World—walk in.
“The King of Beasts—he rules o'er great & small,
“The Queen, his Wife—a Tygar from Bengal,
“Leopards and Panthers, and a noble Tribe
“That you may see, and therefore to describe
“Is of no use—Walk in—on English Ground,
“Nor on the Earth, is such Collection found.”
I enter. Lo, the Creatures—there they be;
Each in his den, with anguish in his Eye,
And roused by blows that some vile spirit gives,
Shows fearful tokens of the life he lives.
I saw the imprisoned Tribes, their sufferings felt,
And their hard Tale upon my memory dwelt;
Nay, in my Dreams upon my fancy rose
The king of beasts, exprest his Royal Woes,
His nobler Subjects heard with woe profound,
The distant Birds were silent at the Sound,
And all the smaller Tribes stood listening all around:
| New Poems by George Crabbe | |