The Working Girl's Song (1909)
Sisters of the whirling wheelAre we all day;
Builders of a house of steel
On Time's highway,
Giving bravely, hour by hour,
All we have of youth and power. Oh, lords of the house we rear,
Hear us, hear !
Green are the fields in May-time,
Grant us our love-time, play-time.
Short is the day and dear. Fingers fly and engines boom
The livelong day,
Through far fields when roses bloom
The soft winds play.
Vast the work is-sound and true
Be the tower we build for you ! Oh, lords of the house we rear,
Hear us, hear !
Green are the fields in May-time,
Grant us our love-time, play-time.
Short is the day and dear. Ours the future is-we face
The whole world's needs.
In our hearts the coming race
For life's joy pleads.
As you make us-slaves or free-
So the men unborn shall be. Oh, lords of the hours we rear,
Hear us, hear !
Green are the fields in May-time,
Grant us our love-time, play-time.
Short is the day and dear. -Harriet Monroe, in 'Union Labor Advocate.' Notes From the South Astralian Newspaper The Herald 9 Jan 1909 p. 11.