Men of England, wherefore ploughFor the lords who lay ye low?Wherefore weave with toil and careThe rich robes your tyrants wear?Wherefore feed and clothe and save,From the cradle to the grave,Those ungrateful drones who wouldDrain your sweat – nay, drink your blood?Wherefore, Bees of England, forgeMany a weapon, chain, and scourge,That these stingless drones may spoilThe forced produce of your toil?Have ye leisure, comfort, calm,Shelter, food, love's gentle balm?Or what is it ye buy so dearWith your pain and with your fear?The seed ye sow another reaps;The wealth ye find another keeps;The robes ye weave another wears;The arms ye forge another bears.Sow seed, – but let no tyrant reap;Find wealth, – let no imposter heap;Weave robes, – let not the idle wear;Forge arms, in your defence to bear.Shrink to your cellars, holes, and cells;In halls ye deck another dwells.Why shake the chains ye wrought? Ye seeThe steel ye tempered glance on ye.With plough and spade and hoe and loom,Trace your grave, and build your tomb,And weave your winding-sheet, till fairEngland be your sepulchre!
МУЖАМ АНГЛИИ
Англичане, почемуПокорились вы ярму?Отчего простой народТкет и пашет на господ?Для чего вам одеватьВ шелк и бархат вашу знать,Отдавать ей кровь и мозг,Добывать ей мед и воск?Пчелы Англии, зачемСоздавать оружье тем,Кто оставил вам труды,А себе берет плоды?Где у вас покой, досуг,Мир, любовь, семейный круг,Хлеб насущный, теплый дом,Заработанный трудом?Кто не сеет – жатве рад,Кто не ищет – делит клад,И мечом грозит не тот,Кто в огне его кует.Жните хлеб себе на стол,Тките ткань для тех, кто гол.Куйте молотом металл,Чтобы вас он защищал.Вы, подвальные жильцы,Лордам строите дворцы,И ваши цепи сотней глазГлядят с насмешкою на вас.Могилу роет землекоп,Усердный плотник ладит гроб,И белый саван шьет швеяТебе, Британия моя!
ENGLAND IN 1819
An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king,—Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flowThrough public scorn, – mud from a muddy spring,—Rulers who neither see, nor feel, nor know,But leech-like to their fainting country cling,Till they drop, blind in blood, without a blow,—A people starved and stabbed in the unfilled field,—An army, which liberticide and preyMakes as a two-edged sword to all who wield,—Golden and sanguine laws which tempt and slay;Religion Christless, Godless – a book sealed;A Senate, – Time's worst statute unrepealed,—Are graves from which a glorious Phantom mayBurst, to illumine our tempestuous day.