AS ANOTHER'S THOUGHTS
Our thoughts belong to us when unexpressed,
But spoken aloud, are by others assessed,
Or when, by action, those thoughts are performed,
Then upon us we find duty adorned.
Where we might inoculate our thoughts excess
Into the minds of those who would confess,
That what they think is what they choose to quote,
Uttered from another's influential throat,
We serve as slaves to those who do not think,
Yet look more suited to use democratic ink.
For theirs is the fame we are ourselves denied
By silence or those in whom we must confide.
Thus by our writing, what we write is shared
That as another's thoughts we are compared.