Thomas Paine

      In protestation of his time
      He found the human mind divine,
      Found the talk that made it up,
      Spoke aloud, and would not jump.
5     "Clear words beget clear heads."
      Clarity in life, clarity in death
      Is the best man has to hope or dread.
      In protestation of his time
      Man completes the balance of his rhyme.
10    To rip at the savage face
      To tear out the tyrant's heart
      Was his only mellow wish, when once
      He tottered at his infant start.
      "Poetry's the soul in the hole
15    Of all our deluded union."
      Never again to read in dread
      What any briary tongue
      Or lashed heart had said.
      A pauper's son, a poor man's daughter
20    Live their fused lives upon the waters,
      Bless the vision that lifts them in a trance
      Beyond their haunted circumstance.
      A steady voice, a glance like Fate's,
      "All the million reductive deaths
25    Of a single soul in resistance
      Find their measure, and their truth in Time
      In the balance of a rhyme
      Not otherwise."

 

From the collection "Divine Revolt"

Written by Gregg Glory [Gregg G. Brown]

More information available on gregglory.com.