To John G. Palfrey (
LINK ) There are who triumph in a losing cause, Who can put on defeat, as 't were a wreath Unwithering in the adverse popular breath, Safe from the blasting demagogue's applause; 'Tis they who stand for freedom and God's laws. And so stands Palfrey now, as Marvell Stood, Loyal to Truth dethroned, nor could be wooed To trust the playful tiger's velvet paws: And if the second Charles brought in Decay Of ancient virtue, if it well might wring Souls that had broadened 'neath a noble day, To see a losel, marketable king Fearfully watering with his realm's best blood Cromwell's quenched bolts, that erst had cracked and flamed, Scaring, through all their depths of courtier mud, EUROPE"S CROWNED BLOODSUCKERS,___ how more ashamed Ought we to be, who see Corruptions flood Still rise o'er last years mark, to mine away Our brazen idol's feet of treacherous clay!
SUGGESTED BY THE GRAVES OF TWO ENGLISH SOLDIERS ON CONCORD BATTLE-GROUND. These men were brave enough, and true To the hired soldier's bull-dog creed; What brought them here they never knew, They fought as suits the English breed: They came three thousand miles, and died, To keep the PAST upon it's throne; Unheard, beyond the ocean tide, Their English mother made her moan. Stanzas on Freedom MEN! whose boast it is that ye Come of fathers brave and free,
if there breath on earth a slave,Are ye truly free and brave?If ye do not feel the chain,When it works a brother's pain,Are ye not base slaves indeed,Slaves unworthy to be freed?They are slaves who fear to speak For the fallen and the weak;They are slaves who will not choose Hatred,scoffing, and abuse,Rather than in silence shrink From the truth they needs must think;They are slaves who dare not be In the right with two or three.
The link ABOVE contains one of the Reverend Martin Luther King's most profound but most overlooked speeches. This speech, in all probability, got him assassinated. In it he deviated from civil rights to anti-war. This anti-war stanch upset the Military Industrial Complex.
(Of particular interest to me and relevance to this blog, is the inclusion of an excerpt from a James Russell Lowell poem that MLK so generously and warmly ended his powerful discourse with)
Peter
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But all the best in the New Year
Health, Happiness and Peace
Penny