Classic Poem

Us shall none bind:
Comrades, we're free,
Free as the wind,
Free as the sea—
Free!

O, why should we
Be the slaves of words?
Here we are free,
Free as the birds—
Free!

Free from the lies
We loath and despise,
Free to laugh,
Free to quaff
Rhine wine or lager beer—
Even whiskey
In our frisky
Moments here.

Here we are free;
Free to say
What we will;
Free to be sad,
Free to be gay;
Free to reveal
All we may be
Good or bad.

Here is the real,
Here the ideal,
Here the poor hardship
A week recalls not,
Here glory of hardship
That passes all thought.

True, sometimes troubles
May to us belong—
They are the bubbles
The stream does not heed 'em,
But flows along
In thunders of freedom
And tempest of song.

Laugh, you shallow
Worldling! Laugh,
You, too, callow
Beardless calf!
Laugh!

I tell you that we,
While you are smirking
And lying and shirking
Life's duty of duties,
Honest sincerity,
We are in verity
Free—

Free to rejoice
In blisses and beauties,
Free as the voice
Of the wind as it passes,
Free as the bird
In the weft of the grasses,
Free as the word
Of the sun and the sea—