Upton Sinclair, ed. (18781968). The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest. 1915. | | A South-Sea Islander | By Francis W. L. Adams | (English poet and rebel, 18621893; his life, a brief struggle with poverty and disease, was ended by his own hand) |
| ALOLL in the warm clear water, | |
On her back with languorous limbs | |
She lies. The baby upon her breast | |
Paddles and falls and swims. | |
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With half-closed eyes she smiles, | 5 |
Guarding it with her hands; | |
And the sob swells up in my heart | |
In my heart that understands. | |
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Dear, in the English country, | |
The hatefullest land on earth, | 10 |
The mothers are starved and the children die | |
And death is better than birth! | | | |
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