"A baby must cry to develop its lungs," So waggle the foolish, inconsequent tongues, Forgetful of babies whose crying is slight, Yet, faith! they can prove that their lungs are all right. "A boy must see life," men say with a grin, So headlong and heedless they tumble him in: Let him flounder and gasp in the muck of the town; It will strengthen him, sure, if he doesn't go down. "The poor we have with us, and must have for aye," Thus the misquoters make the New Testament say. So they dole out their charity, mocking the cure That might end forever the woes of the poor. Ah, prophets of sorrow, complacent with wrong, The new age is teaching a worthier song! The song of a future that betters the past, The song of a blessedness certain to last. For the babes need not cry, and the boys need not sin, And the poor from their poverty riches may win, And when we are stronger and when we are wise We will change this old world into paradise! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE RAND MCNALLY ATLAS by KAREN SWENSON MEMORIAL VERSES by MATTHEW ARNOLD FOR 'THE WINE OF CIRCE' (BY EDWARD BURNE JONES) by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI THE DAUGHTER OF THE BLIND by ANNE M. F. ANNAN WHITE MOMENTS by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE WANDERER: 5. IN HOLLAND: THE PEDLER by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON |