Demos Ii

Edwin Arlington Robinson

So little have you seen of what awaits
 Your fevered glimpse of a democracy
 Confused and foiled with an equality
Not equal to the envy it creates,
That you see not how near you are the gates
 Of an old king who listens fearfully
 To you that are outside and are to be
The noisy lords of imminent estates.

Rather be then your prayer that you shall have
 Your kingdom undishonored.  Having all,
 See not the great among you for the small,
But hear their silence; for the few shall save
 The many, or the many are to fall—
Still to be wrangling in a noisy grave.

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