Page:The cry for justice - an anthology of the literature of social protest. - (IA cryforjusticea00sinc).pdf/653

 The Rough Rider

(American poet of nature, born 1861)

Take up, who will, the challenge; Stand pat on graft and greed; Grow sleek on others' labor, Surfeit on others' need; Let paid and bloodless tricksters Devise a legal way Our common right and justice "To sell, deny, delay."

Not yesterday nor lightly We came to know that breed; Our quarrel with that cunning Is old as Runnymede. We saw enfranchised insult Deploy in kingly line, When broke our sullen fury On Rupert of the Rhine

Now, masking raid and rapine In debonair disguise, The foe we thought defeated Deludes our careless eyes, Entrenched in law and largess And the vested wrong of things, Cloaking a fouler treason Than any faithless king's.