THOU, whom the slave-lords with contemptuous feet Spurned in their double insult -- taunting thee, As born of Labor and of Poverty, With scorn in thine abasement most unmeet, How dost thou find their false embraces sweet! How, so insanely blind, thou canst not see What shameless scoffs in their applauses be? So took the drunken slave, in Roman street, The homage of his master's mocking mirth: And thou, who mightst have lifted up thy race, Dost rather take from Toil its dignity, And unto ignorance addest fresh disgrace. But we shall sweep that system from the earth Which gave us Treason, war, and lastly -- thee! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WAITER IN A CALIFORNIA VIETNAMESE RESTURANT by CLARENCE MAJOR BLIND by LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE SATIRE: 3 by AULUS PERSIUS FLACCUS THE BOTTOM DRAWER by MARY A. BARR HIS ALLY by WILLIAM ROSE BENET |