Page:Poems for Workers - ed. Manuel Gomez (1925).djvu/32

 And yoke on your shoulders the halter of hatred and

fury,

And dash head-down against the bastions of folly,

Because a colored cloth waves in the air, because a

drum beats in the street,

Because six men have promised you a piece of ribbon on

your coat, a carved tablet on a wall and your name

in a list bordered with black?

Shall you, then, be forever the stewards of death, when

life waits for you like a bride?

Ah, no, Brothers, not for this did our mothers shriek

with pain and delight when we tore their flanks

with our first cry;

Not for this were we given command of the beasts,

Not with blood but with sweat were we bidden to achieve

our salvation.

Behold! I announce now to you a great tidings of joy,

For if your hands that are gathered in sheaves for the

sickle of war unite as a bouquet of flowers between

the warm breasts of peace,

Freedom will come without any blows save the hammers

on the chains of your wrists, and the picks on the

walls of your jails!

Arise, and against every hand jeweled with the rubies

of murder,

Against every mouth that sneers at the tears of mercy,

Against every foul smell of the earth,

Against every head that a footstool raises over your

head,

Against every word that was written before this was

said,