Off with the fetters
That chafe and restrain!
Off with the chain!
Here Art and Letters,
Music and wine,
And Myrtle and Wanda,
The winsome witches,
Blithely combine.
Here are true riches,
Here is Golconda,
Here are the Indies,
Here we are free—
Free as the wind is,
Free as the sea,
Free!
Houp-la!
...Here we are free
To be good or bad,
Sane or mad,
Merry or grim
As the mood may be—
Free as the whim
Of a spook on a spree,—
Free to be oddities,
Not mere commodities.
Stupid and salable,
Wholly available,
Ranged upon shelves;
Each with his puny form
In the same uniform,
Cramped and disabled;
We are not labelled,
We are ourselves...
- Richard Hovey, from "Vagabondia"
Opgenhaffen, Malou's Silver Lining, 2011
Thanks, Veerle.
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