_
_What shall be sung or said_
_Of desolate deceit_,
_When others take his bread_;
_His and his children's bread?_--
_And the laborer hath none._
_This, for his portion now, of all that he hath done._
_He earns; and others eat._
_He starves;--they sit at meat_
_Who have taken away the Sun._
II
Seek him now, that singing Man.
Look for him,
Look for him
In the mills,
In the mines;
Where the very daylight pines,--
He, who once did walk the hills!
You shall find him, if you scan
Shapes all unbefitting Man,
Bodies warped, and faces dim.
In the mines; in the mills
Where the ceaseless thunder fills
Spaces of the human brain
Till all thought is turned to pain.
Where the skirl of wheel on wheel,
Grinding him who is their tool,
Makes the shattered senses reel
To the numbness of the fool.
Perisht thought, and halting tongue--
(Once it spoke;--once it sung!)
Live to hunger, dead to song.
Only heart-beats loud with wrong
Hammer on,--_How long?_
... _How long?_--_How long?_
Search for him;
Search for him;
Where the crazy atoms swim
Up the fiery furnace-blast.
You shall find him, at the last,--
He whose forehead braved the sun,--
Wreckt and tortured and undone.
Where no breath across the heat
Whispers him that life was sweet;
But the sparkles mock and flare,
Scattering up the crooked air.
Pages:
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308