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(MAGNA CHARTA, JUNE 15, 1215)
AT Runnymede, at Runnymede, | |
| What say the reeds at Runnymede? | |
| The lissom reeds that give and take, | |
| That bend so far, but never break. | |
| They keep the sleepy Thames awake | 5 |
| With tales of John at Runnymede. | |
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| At Runnymede, at Runnymede, | |
| Oh hear the reeds at Runnymede:— | |
| “You must n’t sell, delay, deny, | |
| A freeman’s right or liberty, | 10 |
| It wakes the stubborn Englishry, | |
| We saw ’em roused at Runnymede! | |
| |
| “When through our ranks the Barons came, | |
| With little thought of praise or blame, | |
| But resolute to play the game, | 15 |
| They lumbered up to Runnymede; | |
| And there they launched in solid line, | |
| The first attack on Right Divine— | |
| The curt, uncompromising ‘Sign!’ | |
| That settled John at Runnymede. | 20 |
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| “At Runnymede, at Runnymede, | |
| Your rights were won at Runnymede! | |
| No freeman shall be fined or bound, | |
| Or dispossessed of freehold ground, | |
| Except by lawful judgment found | 25 |
| And passed upon him by his peers! | |
| Forget not, after all these years, | |
| The Charter signed at Runnymede.” | |
| |
| And still when Mob or Monarch lays | |
| Too rude a hand on English ways, | 30 |
| The whisper wakes, the shudder plays, | |
| Across the reeds at Runnymede. | |
| And Thames, that knows the moods of kings, | |
| And crowds and priests and suchlike things, | |
| Rolls deep and dreadful as he brings | 35 |
| Their warning down from Runnymede! | |
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