Percy Bysshe Shelley, in support of Occupy Wall Street
(These are the last stanzas of Shelley's poem "The Masque of Anarchy", written in response to the brutal suppression of the political reform movement in Manchester that later became known as the Peterloo Massacre. They seem fitting tonight, as Occupy Wall Street, having been driven out of Zuccotti Park once by brute and unjustified force, have re-occupied the park):
LXXXIV.
"And if then the tyrants dare,
Let them ride among you there;
Slash, and stab, and maim, and hew;
What they like, that let them do.
LXXXV.
"With folded arms and steady eyes,
And little fear and less surprise,
Look upon them as they stay
Till their rage has died away:
LXXXVI.
"Then they will return with shame,
To the place from which they came,
And the blood thus shed will speak
In hotblushes on their cheek,
LXXXVII.
"Every woman in the land
Will point at them as they stand
They will hardly dare to greet
Their acquaintance in the street:
LXXXVIII.
"And the bold, true warriors,
Who have hugged Danger in wars,
Will turn to those who would be free
Ashamed of such base company:
LXXXIX.
"And that slaughter to the nation
Shall steam up like inspiration,
Eloquent, oracular,
A volcano heard afar:
XC.
"And these words shall then become
Like Oppressions thundered doom,
Ringing through each heart and brain,
Heard again--again--again.
XCI.
Rise like lions after slumber
In unvanquishable NUMBER!
Shake your chains to earth, like dew
Which in sleep had fall'n on you:
YE ARE MANY-THEY ARE FEW.
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