Jacob Godbey

How did you feel, you libertarians,         Who spent your talents rallying noble reasons         Around the saloon, as if Liberty         Was not to be found anywhere except at the bar         Or at a table, guzzling?         How did you feel, Ben Pantier, and the rest of you,         Who almost stoned me for a tyrant         Garbed as a moralist,         And as a wry-faced ascetic frowning upon Yorkshire pudding,         Roast beef and ale and good will and rosy cheer -         Things you never saw in a grog-shop in your life?         How did you feel after I was dead and gone,         And your goddess, Liberty, unmasked as a strumpet,         Selling out the streets of Spoon River         To the insolent giants         Who manned the saloons from afar?         Did it occur to you that personal liberty         Is liberty of the mind,         Rather than of the belly?