Upton Sinclair, ed. (1878–1968).
The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest. 1915. | | | The Children of the Poor
(Translated by Algernon Charles Swinburne) |
By Victor Hugo |
(The poet and humanitarian of France, 1802–1885) |
| | | TAKE heed of this small child of earth; | |
| He is great: he hath in him God most high. | |
| Children before their fleshly birth | |
| Are lights alive in the blue sky. | |
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| In our light bitter world of wrong | 5 |
| They come; God gives us them awhile. | |
| His speech is in their stammering tongue, | |
| And his forgiveness in their smile. | |
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| Their sweet light rests upon our eyes. | |
| Alas! their right to joy is plain. | 10 |
| If they are hungry, Paradise | |
| Weeps, and, if cold, Heaven thrills with pain. | |
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| The want that saps their sinless flower | |
| Speaks judgment on sin’s ministers. | |
| Man holds an angel in his power. | 15 |
| Ah! deep in Heaven what thunder stirs, | |
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| When God seeks out these tender things | |
| Whom in the shadow where we sleep | |
| He sends us clothed about with wings, | |
| And finds them ragged babes that weep! | 20 | | | |
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