United they are, but with principles of sheep,
I would lose the but altogether if it were mine...
Their unruliness of procession
Is my sole confession,
For while they may shout and leap,
holding lofty principles of sheep, (??)
Righteous activism present only in the shepherd.
Kevin is right; it is a bit unruly. I like it, though. Hmmm. I even get the message (the bit up there reminded me about "activists" who proclaim themselves "grass-roots" when they are merely spouting, by rote, the rhetoric of influential others).
My assertion would be by you confirmed,
If you but asked the flock concerned.
I am not reading any assertion. Did you perhaps leave it out? If there never was one, then you need to make one, otherwise the last two verses don't make sense.
I think I understand the way Virtue ties in. Virtue is absent in those who blindly follow others along a path that may harbor certain grave consequences.
Blue skies! Jeannie