Poems (Dudley)/Labor and Capital

by Marion Vienna Churchill Dudley

LABOR AND CAPITAL.

AND here at home, too, Toil complains Of weary hours and meager gains,Of scanty raiment, food and fire And naught that fill the soul's desireFor higher nurture; books and ease, To think and roam the farther seas;A weary riddle this to read,— No sphynx e'er held a closer creed,—Is Gold the king and Labor slave? Or Labor wronged and Gold the knave?Nay, ask it thus: shall Head command Or bow itself to rule of Hand?In truth, can neither reign alone But both may share and fill a throne.