 | New songs of innocence |  |
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THE PORTRAITS.
Properly placed and labelled,
Each portrait looks from its frame,
With his character, real or fabled,
Affixed to the dead man's name:
This one was good, and was martyred;
That one was bad, and a king!
Yon one his soul's peace bartered
For some poor pitiful thing.
Each portrait looks from its frame,
With his character, real or fabled,
Affixed to the dead man's name:
This one was good, and was martyred;
That one was bad, and a king!
Yon one his soul's peace bartered
For some poor pitiful thing.
Pilloried they stand there;
The gallery's ever full;
There's always a noisy band there
Of children going to school.
They point with scornful fingers
When one marked ‘Wicked’ they see,
And his crime in their memory lingers,
With the thought, ‘How much better are we!’
The gallery's ever full;
There's always a noisy band there
Of children going to school.
They point with scornful fingers
When one marked ‘Wicked’ they see,
And his crime in their memory lingers,
With the thought, ‘How much better are we!’
They hang there to all generations,
Despised and reviled by all,
Forgotten their strong temptations,
Only remembered their fall.
And maybe an enemy drew them,
And sent them down to us
With a skewer of spite stuck through them,
Labelled and libelled thus!
Despised and reviled by all,
Forgotten their strong temptations,
Only remembered their fall.
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And sent them down to us
With a skewer of spite stuck through them,
Labelled and libelled thus!
Is this a meaningless mystery,
My Willie? But it's true.
The gallery of history
Will open soon to you.
Nowadays Fashion's a fetter
That keeps us from many a fall;
Remember, though we know better,
The dead know best of all!
My Willie? But it's true.
The gallery of history
Will open soon to you.
Nowadays Fashion's a fetter
That keeps us from many a fall;
Remember, though we know better,
The dead know best of all!
| New songs of innocence | |