Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE PREACHER AND THE SLAVE, by JOE HILL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE PREACHER AND THE SLAVE, by                    
First Line: Long-haired preachers come out every night
Last Line: And you'll eat in the sweet bye and bye.
Alternate Author Name(s): Hillstrom, Joesph; Hagglund, Joel
Subject(s): Social Protest


Long-haired preachers come out every night,
Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right;
But when asked about someting to eat,
They will answer in voices so sweet:

Chorus
You will eat, bye and bye,
In that glorious land in the sky;
Work and pray, live on hay,
You'll get pie in the sky when you die.

And the starvation army they play,
And they sing and they clap and they pray,
Till they get all your coin in the drum,
They they'll tell you when you're on the bum:

Chorus
You will eat, bye and bye,
In that glorious land in the sky;
Work and pray, live on hay,
You'll get pie in the sky when you die.

If you fight hard for children and wife,
Try hard and get something in life,
You're a sinner and bad man they tell,
When you die you will sure go to hell;

Working men of all countries unite,
Side by side for our freedom we'll fight;
When the world and its wealth we have gained,
To the grafters we'll sing this refrain:

Chorus

You will eat, bye and bye,
When you've learned how to cook and to fry;
Chop some wood, 'twill do you good,
And you'll eat in the sweet bye and bye.







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