Upton Sinclair, ed. (1878–1968). rn The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest. 1915.

Trinity Church

Edwin Davies Schoonmaker

(Contemporary American poet)

IN vain she points her finger to the sky

And sends her voice along the famous street,

Admonishing how the mortal hours fleet

And bidding men bethink that they must die.

Tearing the coat of Christ they jostle by

And ply their gambling at her very feet.

“Prepare, prepare, prepare thy God to meet!”

She loudly calls. They do not heed her. Why?

Thou, stuffed with tithes of them that traffic here,

Flesh of their flesh, and with thy spotted hand

Buying and selling, fattening year by year,

How darest thou rebuke this venal band?

Thou mocker of the man of Galilee,

Prepare to meet thy God, thou Pharisee.