The Poems of Oscar Wilde/Libertatis Sacra Fames

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For other versions of this work, see Libertatis Sacra Fames.
The Poems of Oscar Wilde (1909)
by Oscar Wilde
Libertatis Sacra Fames
4390898The Poems of Oscar Wilde — Libertatis Sacra Fames1909Oscar Wilde

LIBERTATIS SACRA FAMES

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.