Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917.

The Net

Margaret Widdemer

THE STRANGERS’ children laugh along the street:

They know not, or forget,

The sweeping of the net

Flung to ensnare such little careless feet.

And we—we smile and watch them pass along,

With those who walk beside,

Soft-smiling, cruel-eyed:

We guard our own—not ours to right the wrong.

We do not care—we shall not heed or mark

Till we shall hear one day,

Too late to strive or pray,

Our daughters’ voices crying from the dark.