Freedom

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.Blary O'Gary.

Freedom, n. Exemption from the stress of authority in a beggarly half dozen of restraint's infinite multitude of methods. A political condition that every nation supposes itself to enjoy in virtual monopoly. Liberty. The distinction between freedom and liberty is not accurately known; naturalists have never been able to find a living specimen of either.

Composition date is unknown - the above date represents the first publication date.

The lyrical form of this poem is abab.

2. Kosciusko: Thaddeus Kosciuszko (1746-1817), American

revolutionary.