Quick as the lightning's vivid flash <br />The poet's eye o'er Europe rolls; <br />Sees battles rage, hears tempests crash, <br />And dims at horror's threatening scowls - <br /> <br />Marks ambition's ruthless king, <br />With crimson'd banners scathe the globe, <br />While trailing after conquest's wing, <br />Man's festering wounds his demons probe. <br /> <br />Palled with streams of reeking gore - <br />That stain the proud imperial day; <br />He turns to view the Western shore, <br />Where freedom holds her boundless sway. <br /> <br />'Tis here her sage triumphant sways <br />An empire in the people's love, <br />'Tis here the sovereign will obeys <br />No King but Him who rules above.<br /><br />Thomas Paine<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/lines-extempore/
