Had you lived when a tyrant king
Strove to make all the slaves of one,
With nobles and with churchmen you
Had stood unflinching, pure and true,
To annihilate that hateful thing
Green Runnymeade beat out of John?
Had you lived when a wanton crew,
Flash scoundrels of a day outdone,
Trod down the toilers birth derides,
With Cromwell and his Ironsides
The brave days had discovered you,
Where Naseby saw the gallants run?
And yet you,— this same knight in list
For freedom in her narrow dawn
Against that one, against those few,
Vile king, vile nobles — you, yet you
Stand by the bloody Capitalist,
Fight with the pandar Gentleman!