Upton Sinclair, ed. (1878–1968).
The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest. 1915. | | | | Labor |
Anonymous |
(A parody upon a poem by Rudyard Kipling; author unknown. The poem is frequently, but incorrectly, attributed to Mr. Kipling) |
| | | WE have fed you all for a thousand years, | |
| And you hail us still unfed, | |
| Tho’ there’s never a dollar of all your wealth | |
| But marks the workers’ dead. | |
| We have yielded our best to give you rest, | 5 |
| And you lie on crimson wool; | |
| For if blood be the price of all your wealth | |
| Good God, we ha’ paid in full! | |
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| There’s never a mine blown skyward now | |
| But we’re buried alive for you; | 10 |
| There’s never a wreck drifts shoreward now | |
| But we are its ghastly crew; | |
| Go reckon our dead by the forges red, | |
| And the factories where we spin. | |
| If blood be the price of your cursed wealth | 15 |
| Good God, we ha’ paid it in! | |
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| We have fed you all for a thousand years, | |
| For that was our doom, you know, | |
| From the days when you chained us in your fields | |
| To the strike of a week ago. | 20 |
| You ha’ eaten our lives and our babies and wives, | |
| And we’re told it’s your legal share; | |
| But, if blood be the price of your lawful wealth, | |
| Good God, we ha’ bought it fair! | | | | |
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