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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
WAITING, by JOHN DAVIDSON Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Within unfriendly walls / we starve - or starve by stealth Last Line: And the word we must obey. Subject(s): Labor & Laborers; Poverty; Waiting; Wealth; Work; Workers; Riches; Fortunes | |||
WITHIN unfriendly walls We starve—or starve by stealth. Oxen fatten in their stalls; You guard the harrier's health: They never can be criminals, And can't compete for wealth. From the mansion and the palace Is there any help or hail For the tenants of the alleys, Of the workhouse and the jail? Though lands await our toil, And earth half-empty rolls, Cumberers of English soil, We cringe for orts and doles— Prosperity's accustomed foil, Millions of useless souls. In the gutters and the ditches Human vermin festering lurk— We, the rust upon your riches; We, the flaw in all your work. Come down from where you sit; We look to you for aid. Take us from the miry pit, And lead us undismayed: Say, 'Even you, outcast, unfit, Forward with sword and spade!' And myriads of us idle Would thank you through our tears, Though you drove us with a bridle, And a whip about our ears! From cloudy cape to cape The teeming waters seethe; Golden grain and purple grape The regions overwreathe. Will no one help us to escape? We scarce have room to breathe. You might try to understand us: We are waiting night and day For a captain to command us, And the word we must obey. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ALL LIFE IN A LIFE by EDGAR LEE MASTERS FOUR POEMS ABOUT JAMAICA: 3. A HAIRPIN TURN ABOVE READING, JAMAICA by WILLIAM MATTHEWS IMAGINE YOURSELF by EVE MERRIAM THE PROPHET by LUCILLE CLIFTON I AM FIFTY-TWO YEARS OLD' by KENNETH REXROTH LAST VISIT TO THE SWIMMING POOL SOVIETS by KENNETH REXROTH PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR AS A YOUNG ANARCHIST by KENNETH REXROTH A BALLAD OF HELL by JOHN DAVIDSON |
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