4.28.2021

all I haply can and do, All that I am now, all I hope to be

"Why?" Because all I haply can and do, 
    All that I am now, all I hope to be,—
    Whence comes it save from fortune setting free 
Body and soul the purpose to pursue, 
God traced for both? If fetters, not a few, 
    Of prejudice, convention, fall from me, 
    These shall I bid men—each in his degree 
Also God-guided‚—bear, and gayly, too? 
    But little do or can the best of us: 
That little is achieved thro' Liberty. 
    Who, then, dares hold, emancipated thus, 
His fellow shall continue bound? Not I, 
    Who live, love, labour freely, nor discuss 
A brother's right to freedom. That is "Why." 
 

No comments:

Post a Comment