Upton Sinclair, ed. (1878–1968). rn The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest. 1915.
For Lyric LaborElizabeth Waddell
(Apropos of a remark, attributed to an Italian girl of the Garment Workers Union, It wouldnt be so bad if they would only let us sing at our work)C
Of Ariosto and of Raphael,
If any hush the song within your bosom,
By all your lyric land, he does not well!
Passing at morning through Saint Mark’s great Square,
Marvelled, from workmen on the campanile,
To hear a song arising on the air.
To Labor’s matin chant intoned so clear,
As the great towers builded by Amphion
Rose to the lyre’s strong throbbing, tier on tier.
Give us your heritage of art and song,
The soul that in your fathers grew, sun-nourished,
Soaring above its poverty and wrong.
Teach us your happy, sunland way, nor we
In blind greed longer lay a stern proscription
Upon your song, O Heart of Italy!
The workman’s hand shall mould his rhythmic thought;
How candid to the keen-eyed gods’ appraisal
Shall be the work of Song’s great ardor wrought—
Unto the Morn of Prophecy shall come,
And every tower be raised with mirth and music,
And every harvest brought with singing home.