Where gods do give the choice of blade or pen

Some choose keen edge for glint of gloried steel,

There hubris hails the vice of haughty men

To take with force what merit will not yield.

Still some use ink o’er blood to inure rage

And fight to raise that standard they would bear,

In tenets sure inequity assuage—

Upholding cause in tested credence clear.

‘Twixt swords or pens, there good and evil sway

And who stands right or wrong, oft points of view;

Yet grinding time abrades and wears away

The righteous sheen pure logic once imbued.

Though despots scheme believing might is right,

They best not men who know that right is might.