Page:When the Leaves Come Out (Chaplin 1917).pdf/19

 

For freedom die? But we were never free
 * Save but to drudge and starve, or strike and feel
 * The bite of bullets and the thrust of steel.

For freedom die! While we have eyes to see
 * How children writhe beneath thy crushing heel

And mothers shudder at the thought of thee!
 * For freedom die . . . ?

Defend the flag? Beneath whose reeking fold
 * The gunmen of our masters always came
 * To burn and rape and murder in thy name!

Defend a flag to profit gluttons sold—
 * Trade smirched until it is a thing of shame—

The bartered paramour of Greed and Gold—
 * Defend the flag . . . ?

Protect our land? We who are dispossessed,
 * And own not space to sleep in when we die!
 * "Our" land is held by haughty thieves on high—

The brood of vipers sheltered at thy breast.
 * Our "liberty" is but a loathsome lie;

We have no homes nor any place to rest—
 * Protect our land . . . ?

Resist the foe? We shall ! From sea to sea
 * The vile invaders' battle line is thrown;
 * This is the workers' war and this alone,

To battle with the Thieves of Industry
 * Whose wealth is red with mangled flesh and bone.

Resist the foe? Ah, crush him utterly—
 * Resist the foe . . . !!!

