Page:In Bohemia (1886).djvu/86

80 Her new code read: "The earth is for the able;"
 * (And able meant the selfish, strong, and shrewd;)

"Equality and freedom are a fable;
 * To take and keep the largest share is good."

Her teachers taught the justice of oppression,
 * That taxed the poor on all but air and sun;

Her preachers preached the gospel of possession,
 * That hoards had rights while human souls had none.

Then all things changed their object and relation;
 * Commerce instead of Nature—Progress instead of Men;

The world became a monstrous corporation.
 * Where ninety serfs ground luxury for ten.

The masters blessed, the toilers cursed the system
 * That classified and kept mankind apart;

But passing ages rained the dust of custom
 * Where broken Nature showed the weld of art.

But there were some who scorned to make alliance,
 * Who owned the true Queen even in the dust;

And these, through generations, flung defiance
 * From gaol and gibbet for their sacred trust.