Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, OUR DESTINATION, by WALT MASON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

OUR DESTINATION, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The poorhouse has no persian rugs, no
Last Line: Until we climb the stars.
Subject(s): Cost Of Living; Poverty


THE poorhouse has no Persian rugs, no costly chandeliers; and there we'll dwell

and chase the bugs in our declining years. On bread and meat and spuds and pie
there's an unholy price; the cost of coal has gone so high the poor are burning

ice. The butchers used to give away the liver of the cow; today they wrap it up

and say, "Cough up a quarter now." The poorhouse has no movie stage, no joyous
minstrel troupe; and there we'll spend our wintry age, and live on cabbage soup.

When o'er the daily sheet we glance, we drop it with a frown; the price of
everything's advanced, and nothing has gone down. The printer howls because his

stock more precious is than gems; the tailor wets with tears the frock which
drearily he hems. Man wears his sweater in his bed, because he has no shift, and

cries aloud, while seeing red, "Oh, whither do we drift?" The poorhouse has no
plutocrats, no closed or open cars; and there we'll dwell and swat the rats
until we climb the stars.





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