Poems; original and translated by Charles Rann Kennedy ... and Two Poems by the Rev. Rann Kennedy. New Edition. By Charles Rann Kennedy |
 |
CHARTISTS. |
 | Poems; original and translated |  |
CHARTISTS.
1843.
I marvel not, if men of nature rude,
Whose lot is toil and ignorance and pain,
Whom force alone and iron laws restrain,
Oft o'er their fancied wrongs in silence brood;
Or if, their heads full of conceptions crude,
They rise, and in a voice that cannot feign
They bellow forth their rage and fierce disdain,
In impious curses heaven and earth include.
E'en sworded Justice hath a tear for them.
Shame to the few with craftier heads endow'd,
Who lift not up their voices to condemn,
But into phrensy drive th' unhappy crowd,
And raise a hurricane they cannot stem:
Woe to their heads! the nation cries aloud.
| Poems; original and translated | |