GIR. U5. Additional texts

Дата публикации: Oct 24, 2016 6:41:29 AM

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+ GIR. U5. The Song Of The Wage-Slave

THE SONG TO THE MEN OF ENGLAND

By P.B. Shelley (1792-1822)

I

Men of England, wherefore plough

For the lords who lay ye low?

Wherefore weave with toil and care,

The rich robes your "tyrants wear?

II

Wherefore feed, and clothe, and save,

From the cradle to the grave,

Those ungrateful drones who would

Drain your sweat - nay, drink your blood?

III

Wherefore, Bees of England, forge

Many a weapon, chain, and scourge,

That these stingless drones may spoil

The forced produce of your toil?

THE SONG OF THE SHIRT

By T. Hood (179J-1845)

I

With fingers weary and worn,

With eyelids heavy and red,

A woman sat in unwomanly rags,

Plying her needle and thread, -

Stitch! stitch! stitch!

In poverty, hunger and dirt,

And still with a voice of dolorous pitch

She sang The Song of the Shirt

II

Work - work - work -:

My labour never flags;

And what are its wages? A bed of straw

A crust of bread - and rags.

That shatter'd roof - and this naked floor -

A table - a broken chair -

And a wall so blank, my shadow I thank,

For sometimes falling there.

SONS OF POVERTY

By W. Jones

I

Sons of poverty, assemble,

Ye whose hearts with woe are riven,

Let the guilty tyrants tremble,

Who your hearts such pains have given.

We will never

From the shrine of truth be driven.

II

Must ye faint - ah: how much longer?

Better by the sword to die

Than to die of want and hunger:

They heed not your feeble cry:

Lift your voices to the sky.