RISE, LIKE LIONS

Stand ye calm and resolute,
Like a forest close and mute,
With folded arms and looks which are
Weapons of unvanquished war.

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.

With folded arms and steady eyes,
And little fear, and less surprise,
Look upon them as they slay,
Till their rage has died away:

Then they will return with shame,
To the place from which they came,
And the blood thus shed will speak
In hot blushes on their cheek:

Rise, like lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number!
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you:
Ye are many—they are few!

An excerpt from The Mask of Anarchy by Percy Bysshe Shelly published in 1819.

Wikipedia, The Masque of Anarchy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Masque_of_Anarchy

Image by Birger Strahl, Unsplash

---