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So the suffering one must wander through the paradise of earth,
Hopeless-hearted and despairing of his manhood's real worth;
Though for others life be laughter, freedom-buoyant, fortune-sweet,
Unbefriended on his journey he must plod with weary feet,
Blind to feasting or rejoicing, deaf to merriment or song,
E'en denied the birthright blessings which to all alike belong.
Speak the measure of his sinning, since like plague-corrupting sheep
Sorely stricken from the presence of his brethren he must creep.
Brethren who, in sluggard folly propped on pedigree, deduce
That the best of earth was fashioned for aristocratic use,
Aye, who revel in the product of their fathers' thievish art,
Though it shine bedewed with blood-drops from the toiler's bursting heart;
Or attain to might and honor, held for kinship's sake in place
By some pompous dignitary bare of dignity or grace.
Speak, O rich and prosperous mortal: is the laborer's crime so grave.
That the woman he would cherish, tarnished must become your slave?
Strange abyss 'twixt man and master,—scorn the servant from your height,
Yet regard his wife and daughters none too vile for your delight!
Shining bribe and luring promise with a lavish hand bestow,—
In the dwellings of the humble to achieve an endless woe!
Priestly celibates and masses sinning early, sinning late,
Who shall wonder at the foulness of the world's debased estate?
Would you crush the wretched victim who in fear and trembling stands
Sacrificed to meet the measure of your infamous demands?
Hath he not behind his masking—weary brow and drooping glance,—
Some degree of human reason—shadow of intelligence?
'Neath his garments' soil and tatters bears he not a manly heart,
Throbbing day by day, and longing to embrace the better part?
Ah, your own long since confessed it, and perchance compassion pleads
An array of schools and churches to accommodate his needs.
Would you rescue and uplift him? Contemplate in earnest mood,
And deny him not the age's all-ennobling spirit food.
Let the blaze of truth and knowledge stream upon his joyless mind,
Till a soul awake and blossom in the garden of mankind;
