Tyrants Freed: A Poem on Paine’s Rights of Man
When Burke bewailed the fall of crown and throne,
Paine rose to speak with reason's voice alone.
No gilded past, no scepter's ancient claim
Could dim the light of liberty's pure flame.
He wrote not just for France, but humankind,
To break the chains that fetter soul and mind.
The rights of man, he said, are nature's gift·
No law may bind what reason dares to lift.
Let kings beware the people's waking might,
For truth once armed will not retreat from fight.
No birthright grants a man the power to reign·
The only crown is justice, Paine made plain.
Not merely free from kings must man be made,
But lifted from the depths where hope decayed.
Paine saw the poor not as a class to scorn,
But heirs of rights, though ragged and forlorn.
Let wealth, he urged, not idle in the hands
Of those who rule by birth and old commands.
A tax on riches, just and wisely laid,
Could build the schools where future minds are made.
The widow's tears, the orphan's silent plea·
These too are cries for true democracy.
He dreamed of pensions, bread, and homes secure,
A state that serves the many, not the few and pure.
No throne nor altar held his heart in thrall·
He wrote for those whom power would not call.
And in his lines, a vision bold and wide:
A world where justice walks with human pride.
No parchment stained by kings could Paine revere,
But one inscribed by citizens sincere.
He saw in law not chains, but guiding light·
A charter born of reason, not of might.
Let constitutions rise from common voice,
Where every soul has standing, every choice.
No throne, no peerage, no divine decree
Can match the strength of laws that make men free.
A government, he wrote, must serve the whole,
Not guard the wealth of one exalted role.
Its power must be checked, its bounds defined,
Its purpose clear: uplift the human mind.
He called for rights enshrined, not left to chance,
For justice shaped by reason, not romance.
And in his dream, the world would one day see
A state designed for truth and liberty.
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