The Commons

Don't you just love old English nursery rhymes? Scratch the surface and you'll often find a truth.

Here's one about The Commons:

They hang the man and flog the woman

that steal the goose from off the common,

but let the greater villain loose

that steals the common from the goose.

The law demands that we atone

when we take things we do not own,

but leaves the lords and ladies fine

Who take things that are yours and mine.

They hang the man and flog the woman

Who steals the goose from off the common

And geese will still a common lack

Till they go and steal it back.

English Nursery Rhyme c. 1764

And here's a more modern form with David Rovics - The Commons