Public Domain Day
Welcome, works of long-loved art !,
From artists who have lasted on
For long beyond their time –
Finally, you’ll take your part
In the ever-growing pantheon
Of the no-more-in-their-prime.
If a life is three-scores-ten,
So too is death, it would appear,
When the royalties still flow.
But that was way back when,
And now your grandchildren, I fear,
Must let their unearned windfall go.
Cool your lawyers, drop your walls,
It ain’t about how much you’ll earn
In the common ownership marquee !
The world will turn its eyeballs
On your genius without concern,
Now that, in ev’ry sense, you’re free !
Rhyming Couplets 