15.07.2007, 13:02
Liberty
Say, What is Freedom? What the right of souls
Which all who know are bound to keep, or die,
And who knows not, is dead? In vain ye pry
In musty archives, or retentive scrolls,
Charters and statutes, constitutions, rolls,
And remnants of the old world’s history: -
These show what has been, not what ought to be,
Or teach at best how wiser Time controls
Man’s futile purposes. As vain the search
Of restless factions, who, in lawless will,
Fix the foundations of a creedless church –
A lawless rule – an anarchy off ill:
But what is Freedom? Rightly understood,
A universal license to be good.
Say, What is Freedom? What the right of souls
Which all who know are bound to keep, or die,
And who knows not, is dead? In vain ye pry
In musty archives, or retentive scrolls,
Charters and statutes, constitutions, rolls,
And remnants of the old world’s history: -
These show what has been, not what ought to be,
Or teach at best how wiser Time controls
Man’s futile purposes. As vain the search
Of restless factions, who, in lawless will,
Fix the foundations of a creedless church –
A lawless rule – an anarchy off ill:
But what is Freedom? Rightly understood,
A universal license to be good.