Oh, George the Third

Old-Thinker News | December 13, 2009

By Daniel Taylor

I stumbled across this poem in a book about my ancestors, History of the families McKinney - Brady - Quigley. Connecting with the past and your ancestors is one of the most fulfilling things that you can do. Alexis de Tocqueville wrote of this sustaining spirit in his 1835 book Democracy in America. He writes, "As long as the family spirit endured, the man who fought against tyranny was never alone: he had clients, hereditary friends, and close relatives on his side. And if this support failed him, he still felt sustained by his ancestors and animated by his descendants."

This stirring poem, written during the early days of the war for independence, still remains prescient as the threat of tyranny is ever-present in today's world.

Oh, George the third, what do you mean,
   Is wisdom from you fled,
Or have you got no eyes to see
   That England's almost dead.

Why do you cause the foul north wind
   Upon this garden to blow,
So that the flowers cannot spring,
   It seems to blast them so.

Consider well before too late,
   Consider while you're king,
Oh think, think that your empire's great,
   While over us you sing.

But when you turn our cruel foe
   As plainly doth appear,
Then we are forced to let you know
   That you shall not reign here.

Nor shall your cursed ministry
   Impose on us their laws,
And if they ask us to comply
   We'll smash and break their jaws.

At Boston now they have begun
   To show their cruel spright,
But well I know ere all was done
   Many souls did take their flight.

And so shall many, many more
   Ere we lose liberty,
Before freedom shall live no more
   Both you and we shall die.