Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE TOILERS, by EDWIN MARKHAM Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Their blind feet drift in the darkness, and no one is leading Last Line: Or flung as a meat to the cannons that hunger in battle. | ||||||||
Their blind feet drift in the darkness, and no one is leading: Their toil is the pasture, where harpies and jackals are feeding In all lands and always, the wronged, the homeless, the humbled Till the granite pride of the spoiler is shaken and crumbled, Till the Pillars of Hell are uprooted and left to their ruin, And a rose-garden gladdens the places no rose ever blew in, Where now men huddle together and whisper and harken, Or hold their bleak hands over embers that die out and darken. The anarchies gather and thunder: few, few are the fraters, And loud is the revel at night in the camp of the traitors. ... Say, Shelley, where are youwhere are you? our hearts are a-breaking! The fight in the terrible darknessthe shamethe forsaking! The leaves shower down and are sport for the winds that come after; And so are the toilers in all lands the jest and the laughter Of noblesthe Toilers scourged on in the furrow as cattle, Or flung as a meat to the cannons that hunger in battle. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A MENDOCINO MEMORY by EDWIN MARKHAM ANCHORED TO THE INFINITE by EDWIN MARKHAM BROTHERHOOD (2) by EDWIN MARKHAM CHILD OF MY HEART by EDWIN MARKHAM CONSECRATED GROUND; READ AT THE NEW YORK CITY HALL by EDWIN MARKHAM |
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