Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ECONOMY OF SLAVERY by JOHN PIERPONT

First Line: ONE MOUTH AND ONE BACK TO TWO HANDS,' IS THE LAW
Last Line: THE MOUTHS GO HALF FED, AND THE BACKS HALF PROTECTED.
Subject(s): SLAVERY; SERFS;
'ONE mouth and one back to two hands,' is the law,
That the hand of his Maker has stamped upon man;
But Slavery lays on God's image her paw,
And fixes him out on a different plan; --
Two mouths and two backs to two hands she creates;
And the consequence is, as she might have expected;
Let the hands do their best, upon all her estates,
The mouths go half fed, and the backs half protected.



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