Classic Poem

A child of the Republic,
I have never bowed the knee
To coronets or sceptres,
To rank or royalty:

But when a royal nature,
Crowned with a royal name,
Devotes to holy freedom
His genius and his fame,
O, then my soul forgets her pride,
Then to the winds I fling
My democratic scruples,
And all that sort of thing;
My spirit yields allegiance,
And prays, God save thee, King!