VAGABONDIA
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OFF
with the fetters
That chafe and restrain!
Off with the chain!
Here Art and Letters,
Music and wine, |
5 |
And
Myrtle and Wanda,
The winsome witches,
Blithely combine.
Here are true riches,
Here is Golconda, |
10 |
Here
are the Indies,
Here we are free—
Free as the wind is,
Free as the sea,
Free! |
15 |
Houp-la!
What
have we
To do with the way
Of the Pharisee?
We go or we stay
|
20 |
At our
own sweet will;
We think as we say,
And we say or keep still
At our own sweet will,
At our own sweet will. |
25 |
Here we are free,
To be good or bad,
Sane or mad,
Merry or grim
As the mood may be,— |
30 |
Free
as the whim
Of a spook on a spree,—
Free to be oddities,
Not mere commodities,
Stupid and salable, |
35 |
Wholly
available,
Ranged upon shelves;
Each with his puny form
In the same uniform,
Cramped and disabled; |
40 |
We
are not labelled,
We are ourselves.
Here
is the real,
Here is the ideal;
Laughable hardship
|
45 |
Met
and forgot,
Glory of bardship—
World's bloom and world's blot;
The shock and the jostle,
The mock and the push, |
50 |
But
hearts like the throstle
A-joy in the bush;
Wits that would merrily
Laugh away wrong,
Throats that would verily |
55 |
Melt
Hell in Song.
What
though the dimes be
Elusive as rhymes be,
And Bessie, with finger
Uplifted, is warning
|
60 |
That
breakfast next morning
(A subject she's scorning)
Is mighty uncertain!
What care we? Linger
A moment to kiss— |
65 |
No
time's amiss
To a vagabond's ardor—
Then finish the larder
And pull down the curtain.
Unless
ere the kiss come,
|
70 |
Black
Richard or Bliss come,
Or Tom with a flagon,
Or Karl with a jag on—
Then up and after |
75 |
The
joy of the night
With the hounds of laughter
To follow the flight
Of the fox-foot hours
That double and run |
80 |
Through
brakes and bowers
Of folly and fun.
With
the comrade heart
For a moment's play,
And the comrade heart
|
85 |
For
a heavier day,
And the comrade heart
Forever and aye.
For the joy of wine
Is not for long;
|
90 |
And
the joy of song
Is a dream of shine;
But the comrade heart
Shall outlast art
And a woman's love |
95 |
The
fame thereof.
But wine for a sign
Of the love we bring!
And song for an oath
That Love is king!
|
100 |
And
both, and both
For his worshipping!
Then up and away
Till the break of day,
With a heart that's merry,
|
105 |
And
a Tom-and-Jerry,
And a derry-down-derry—
What's that you say,
You highly respectable
Buyers and sellers? |
110 |
We should
be decenter?
Not as we please inter
Custom, frugality,
Use and morality
In the delectable |
115 |
Depths
of wine-cellars?
Midnights
of revel,
And noondays of song!
Is it so wrong?
Go to the Devil!
|
120 |
I tell you that we,
While you are smirking
And lying and shirking
Life's duty of duties,
Honest sincerity, |
125 |
We are
in verity
Free!
Free to rejoice
In blisses and beauties!
Free as the voice |
130 |
Of the
wind as it passes!
Free as the bird
In the weft of the grasses!
Free as the word
Of the sun to the sea— |
135 |
| Free! |
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