It sang the song of the sponge.

O you who “tub” each day!

O men, and sisters, and wives!

They are not sponges you’re squeezing up,

But fellow creatures’ lives!

Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze,

With each agonising plunge!

Squeezing at once, with cruel hand,

A nerve as well as a sponge!

*  *  *  *  *