THE JUSTICE OF THE PEACE

DISTINGUISH carefully between the two, This thing is yours, the other thing is mine. You have a shirt, a brimless hat, a shoe And half a coat. I am the Lord benign Of fifty hundred acres of fat land To which I have a right. You understand? I have a right because I have, because, Because I have—because I have a right. Now be quite calm and good, obey the laws, Remember your low station, do not fight Against the goad, because, you know, it pricks Whenever the uncleanly demos kicks. I do not envy you your hat, or shoe. Why should you envy me my small estate? It’s fearfully illogical in you To fight with economic force and fate. Moreover, I have got the upper hand, And mean to keep it. Do you understand? ~Hilaire Belloc: in “Sonnets and Verse.”