THE SLAVES.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 2, 8 December 1911, Page 7

THE SLAVES.

[For THE MAOEILAND WORKEK.I We toil in shop and factory— No labor is too mean; From dawn till dark, by street and park, We slave in shops unclean. Our little children cry for bread; Our wives find early graves; Our brains are dulled; our hopes are dead! We are the Rich Men's slaves. A hundred thousand toil like us, In this fair land of ours, While "rich men ride by car and 'bus., To rest amid the flowers. They see the sights we never see: The curl of foaming waves — Tlie ocean's song of liberty Sounds never to the slaves. They stroll along the ranges .wide, And gather moss and fern, Or where the gentle river's tide Goes laughing thro' the burn. Their children run about all day, And frolic in the caves; They never see the haunted, grey Stark faces of the slaves. O God, .when will the workers see Tlie folly of it all, h And call for "race equality"— There is no grander call! 0 God, when will the workers rise And sweep away these knaves— Those demons with the greedy eyes, Who make their brothers .slaves? —E. L. EYRE.