Sonnet
To Thomas Paine, the author of The Rights of Man
by T. Clio Rickman.
Hail Genius! of Truth, and Life, and Light,
The purest wisdom marks thy manly page;
`Tis thine to purge from filth the mental site,
`Tis thine to renovate and bless the age.
To valued naught but what is truly great,
To bow to sterling excellence alone;
To treat with contempt all the farce of state,
Not look with reverence but to Virtue's throne.
These are the sentiments that fire thy breast
And Men through time, feeling the Rights of Man,
Shall bless themselves, in making others blessed,
And model governments in Heaven's plan.
So shall man's soul towards its maker rise,
And truth shall take the place of prejudice and lies.