The Right to Be**

The Right to Be

 

“To be” is still a thing to me because I like to think,

Or say things in what ways I want,

And from them grow or shrink

 

“To be” is little

More than thought,

 

The right to

 

“Curse”

 

Or “pray”

 

And when the mob

Proscribes a thought

“To be” must slip away

 

Much better to be dead and gone

Than something less than free

 

That pleases mobs

By dumb consent

 

And mocks

 

The right “to be.”