Freedom

by Blary O'Gary [Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce]

Freedom, as every schoolboy knows,
        Once shrieked as Kosciusko fell;
On every wind, indeed, that blows
        I hear her yell.

She screams whenever monarchs meet,
        And parliaments as well,
To bind the chains about her feet
        And toll her knell.

And when the sovereign people cast
        The votes they cannot spell,
Upon the pestilential blast
        Her clamors swell.

For all to whom the power's given
        To sway or to compel,
Among themselves apportion Heaven
        And give her Hell.