Three

In different contexts different words.

Beware the pointed dazzle of the jewel

Whose brilliance hides a drab and trashy setting.

Words that are worn to fascinate

Can, like the diamond, concentrate our sight,

Hiding the hand or harder lips above.

Freedom for the few is fountains set

Within the spacious idleness of parks:

And freedom spoken in another county

Conjures a derelict and stricken town.

Freedom for all becomes an omnibus,

Each wishing for his own and private stop,

But for his penny forced to keep the route.

Falseness is most brazen behind words,

In the confusion of the crowd

He turns policeman or a thief at will

So in these hours when words like magistrates

Decide our summary and legal acts,

Do not seek precedents in alphabetic law,

But in the mind pass sentence on the word.