Bigot Pretender unto Judgment's throne --
Bastard, that claimest with a cunning face
Those rights the true, true Son of Man doth own
By Love's authority -- thou Rebel cold [61]
At head of civil wars and quarrels old --
Thou Knife on a throne --

I would thou left'st me free, to live with love,
And faith, that through the love of love doth find
My Lord's dear presence in the stars above,
The clods below, the flesh without, the mind
Within, the bread, the tear, the smile.
Opinion, damned Intriguer, gray with guile,
Let me alone.

____
Baltimore, 1878-9.



Notes: Remonstrance


This is the first and the greatest of the `Street-cries':
see the introductory note to `Life and Song'.

For an interpretation of the poem see `Introduction', pp. xxix [Part III],
xlv, xlvii [Part IV].

26, 33. Amusing illustrations of such intolerance may be found