Libertatis Sacra Fames
Albeit nurtured in
democracy,
And liking best that state
republican
Where every man is
Kinglike and no man
Is crowned above his fellows, yet I see,
Spite of this modern fret for
Liberty,
Better the rule of One, whom all
obey,
Than to let clamorous
demagogues betray
Our freedom with the kiss of
anarchy.
Wherefore I love them not whose hands
profane
Plant the red flag upon the piled-up street
For no right cause, beneath whose ignorant
reign
Arts,
Culture,
Reverence, Honour, all things fade,
Save
Treason and the dagger of her trade,
Or Murder with his silent bloody feet.
-Oscar Wilde, (1854-1900)
Poem from
Eleutheria, 1881
from Project Gutenberg (public domain)
Other poems from Oscar Wilde's
Eleutheria: