Upton Sinclair, ed. (1878–1968).
The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest. 1915. | | | Country Life
(From “The Village”) |
By George Crabbe |
(One of the earliest of English realistic poets, 1754–1832; called “The Poet of the Poor”) |
| | | OR will you deem them amply paid in health, | |
| Labor’s fair child, that languishes with wealth? | |
| Go then! and see them rising with the sun, | |
| Through a long course of daily toil to run; | |
| See them beneath the dog-star’s raging heat, | 5 |
| When the knees tremble and the temples beat; | |
| Behold them, leaning on their scythes, look o’er | |
| The labor past, and toils to come explore; | |
| See them alternate suns and showers engage, | |
| And hoard up aches and anguish for their age; | 10 |
| Through fens and marshy moors their steps pursue, | |
| Where their warm pores imbibe the evening dew; | |
| Then own that labor may as fatal be | |
| To these thy slaves, as thine excess to thee. | | | | |
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