Later Sonnets: A Vision of Folly

I SAW one rushing madly in pursuit
Of Liberty. With frenzied steps he strode.
Old laws and customs with disdainful foot
He spurned beneath him in a mire of blood.
He stood before the wondering world a god,
A king with Freedom for his spouse,
He felt his empire was divine and trod,
As on a footstool, on the necks of men.
Ruin awhile and havoc strewed his path.
He had his day of glory and his fall.
He stood once more upon his father's hearth.
Sated with pride, and there in frenzy,
Wrought foul dishonour on that honoured hall,
And left its walls forever with a curse.