Rosemary and Pansies/The Demagogue
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THE DEMAGOGUE
I listened to his smooth insidious tongue,
So artfully adapted to his crowd
Of uninstructed hearers, who with loud
Applause received the phrases deftly strung
To flatter them and to their greed appeal.
Their ignorance and prejudices he
(Taught by long practice) played on skilfully,
Yet to the wise did all the while reveal
His inmost nature, false and insincere;
Spite of himself his vulgar soul he shows,
Which to no great ideal allegiance owes,
But ever doth by self's mean compass steer:
So self-convicted and condemned he stands,
Despite the multitude's loud-clapping hands.
So artfully adapted to his crowd
Of uninstructed hearers, who with loud
Applause received the phrases deftly strung
To flatter them and to their greed appeal.
Their ignorance and prejudices he
(Taught by long practice) played on skilfully,
Yet to the wise did all the while reveal
His inmost nature, false and insincere;
Spite of himself his vulgar soul he shows,
Which to no great ideal allegiance owes,
But ever doth by self's mean compass steer:
So self-convicted and condemned he stands,
Despite the multitude's loud-clapping hands.