Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE THUMB, by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE THUMB, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Hail to the thumb, the useful thumb
Last Line: From the hand of the lord of heaven and earth!
Subject(s): Thumbs


Hail to the thumb, the useful thumb,
The grasper, the holder, the doer of deeds.
Where fingers are futile and tools succumb,
Stolid, ungainly, the thumb succeeds.

Hail to the thumb, the homely thumb;
Rings and jewels are not for it.
Compliments, dainty and frolicsome,
For fingers are suited, for thumbs unfit.

Hail to the thumb, the modest thumb;
Gently and calmly it hides away,
Never for it a banner and drum,
Or praise at the end of a strenuous day.

And hail to the men who are like the thumb;
Men who are never sung by a bard,
Men who are laboring, modestly dumb,
Faithfully doing the work that is hard.

Some day, men of the toiling thumb,
Men of the modest, invincible worth,
Some day your high reward will come
From the Hand of the Lord of heaven and earth!





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