Neither spite, fellow citizens, <br />Nor forgetfulness of the shiftlessness, <br />And the lawlessness and waste <br />Under democracy's rule in Spoon River <br />Made me desert the party of law and order <br />And lead the liberal party. <br />Fellow citizens! I saw as one with second sight <br />That every man of the millions of men <br />Who give themselves to Freedom, <br />And fail while Freedom fails, <br />Enduring waste and lawlessness, <br />And the rule of the weak and the blind, <br />Dies in the hope of building earth, <br />Like the coral insect, for the temple <br />To stand on at the last. <br />And I swear that Freedom will wage to the end <br />The war for making every soul <br />Wise and strong and as fit to rule <br />As Plato's lofty guardians <br />In a world republic girdled!<br /><br />Edgar Lee Masters<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/john-cabanis/
