Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


LIBERTATIS SACRA FAMES by OSCAR WILDE

Poem Explanation

First Line: ALBEIT NURTURED IN DEMOCRACY
Last Line: OR MURDER WITH HIS SILENT BLOODY FEET.
Subject(s): FREEDOM; RUSSIA; TERRORISM; LIBERTY; SOVIET UNION; RUSSIANS;

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,
Or Murder with his silent bloody feet.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net