Wednesday, August 09, 2023

This Scheme of Partial Pardons

 The World State
by G. K. Chesterton 

 Oh, how I love Humanity,
 With love so pure and pringlish,
And how I hate the horrid French,
Who never will be English! 

 The International Idea,
 The largest and the clearest,
Is welding all the nations now,
Except the one that's nearest. 

 This compromise has long been known,
This scheme of partial pardons,
 In ethical societies
 And small suburban gardens --

 The villas and the chapels where
 I learned with little labour
 The way to love my fellow-man
 And hate my next-door neighbour.