To J. J. Rousseau

THOU shrill-voiced dreamer of that Golden Age
When men together dwelt in amity,
And, wars and wealth unknown, simplicity
Made justice possible ; before the sage
Turned priest or lawyer ; before the sage
Betrayed the nations to worse slavery.
Alas ! Drunk with the wine of Liberty---
Thy vintage---France but forged herself a cage.

But tho' thy backward-looking dreams were dreams,
Mere unsubstantial fantasies, and though
Their first-fruits were but blood and death, there
     gleams
From thy dream-pages prophecies that glow
Like the day-star that heralds with its beams
The joyful dawn a future race shall know.

Written by
Hubert Deacon Harrison




Hubert Deacon Harrison was born in 1898 and educated at Butts Council School and Queen Mary's School. He was awarded the Military Cross in 1918.  

J. J. Rousseau was a Swiss born French Philosopher.