Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A GREAT INDUSTRIAL CENTRE, by EDITH BLAND NESBIT Poet's Biography First Line: Squalid street after squalid street Last Line: While they did your work -- in hell! Alternate Author Name(s): Nesbit, E.; Bland, Mrs. Hubert Subject(s): Capitalism; Labor & Laborers; Socialism; Work; Workers | ||||||||
SQUALID street after squalid street, Endless rows of them, each the same, Black dust under your weary feet, Dust upon every face you meet, Dust in their hearts, too -- or so it seems -- Dust in the place of dreams. Spring in her beauty thrills and thrives, Here men hardly have heard her name. Work is the end and aim of their lives -- Work, work, work! for children and wives; Work for a life which, when it is won, Is the saddest under the sun! Work -- one dark and unending round In black dull workshops, out of the light; Work that others' ease may abound, Work that delight for them may be found, Work without hope, without pause, without peace, That only in death can cease. Brothers, who live glad lives in the sun, What of these men, at work in the night? God will ask you what you have done; Their lives be required of you -- every one -- Ye, who were glad and who liked life well, While they did your work -- in hell! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AFTER WORKING SIXTY HOURS AGAIN FOR WHAT REASON by HICOK. BOB DAY JOB AND NIGHT JOB by ANDREW HUDGINS BIXBY'S LANDING by ROBINSON JEFFERS ON BUILDING WITH STONE by ROBINSON JEFFERS LINES FROM A PLUTOCRATIC POETASTER TO A DITCH-DIGGER by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS IN CALIFORNIA: MORNING, EVENING, LATE JANUARY by DENISE LEVERTOV A BALLAD OF CANTERBURY by EDITH BLAND NESBIT |
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