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Libertatis Sacra Fames

by Oscar Wilde, 1881

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,
   And Murder with his silent bloody feet.

Published in Poems
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