I am a slave ! This song is sung
Each moment of the joyless day,
"A slave to work, a slave to die,
The roaring factory seems to say,
A slave to work, a slave to die,
Canst thou not hear the factory's cry ?
The clanking cogwheels grind the tune,
The callous measure sets the pace,
Condemned to slave, I hold a place--
The sun, the birds, the fields the trees--
A slave among the flying wheels
Enslaved, I cannot hope for these.
Between the cogs of shining steel
My youthful hopes are caught and torn
And as the flying metal wears
All feeling from my heart is worn ;
What hopes were mine to ponder o'er
The wheels have crushed forevermore.
A slave to live a slave to die,
This is the price I have to pay
That rogues may line their pockets well
Add spend their idle lives in play,
To live in luxury, while I,
Among the wheels, must live and die.
--Dennis Hogan.
Brisbane
Notes
From the Queensland Newspaper The Daily Standard 24 Dec 1918 p. 5.
Top