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2.1.7.4: A Song- "Men of England"

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    A Song: "Men of England"

    A Song: "Men of England" License: Public Domain Percy Shelley

    Men of England, wherefore plough

    For the lords who lay ye low?

    Wherefore weave with toil and care

    The rich robes your tyrants wear?

    Wherefore feed and clothe and save

    From the cradle to the grave

    Those ungrateful drones who would

    Drain your sweat—nay, drink your blood?

    Wherefore, Bees of England, forge

    Many a weapon, chain, and scourge,

    That these stingless drones may spoil

    The forced produce of your toil?

    Have ye leisure, comfort, calm,

    Shelter, food, love’s gentle balm?

    Or what is it ye buy so dear

    With your pain and with your fear?

    The seed ye sow, another reaps;

    The wealth ye find, another keeps;

    The robes ye weave, another wears;

    The arms ye forge, another bears.

    Sow seed—but let no tyrant reap:

    Find wealth—let no imposter heap:

    Weave robes—let not the idle wear:

    Forge arms—in your defence to bear.

    Shrink to your cellars, holes, and cells—

    In hall ye deck another dwells.

    Why shake the chains ye wrought? Ye see

    The steel ye tempered glance on ye.

    With plough and spade and hoe and loom

    Trace your grave and build your tomb

    And weave your winding-sheet—till fair

    England be your Sepulchre.

    This page titled 2.1.7.4: A Song- "Men of England" is shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Anita Turlington, Matthew Horton, Karen Dodson, Laura Getty, Kyounghye Kwon, Georgia, & Laura Ng (GALILEO Open Learning Materials) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.