REBUTTAL
To you who say I owe a debt to those
Who made this country free by acts of War—
To you who say that when I doubt the scores
The champions of violence disclose,
Ungratefully I bite the hands supposed
To feed me—I say this as my defense:
That Freedom is not earned through violence,
But Virtue, that becalms desire's throes.
For I was born in this time and this place
As a result of one transcendent Law:
That whatsoever hath a person sown
That also shall he reap. Therefore, with grace,
To all that may befall me, I consent—
Be it delight, or else dismemberment.
