The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest / The writings of philosophers, poets, novelists, social reformers, and others who have voiced the struggle against social injustice; selected from twenty-five languages; covering a period of five thousand years

by Unknown

Still weary are the little ones,

Still weary are the old.

We are weary in our cradles

From our mother’s toil untold;

We are born to hoarded weariness

As some to hoarded gold.

We will not rise! We will not work!

Nothing the day can give

Is half so sweet as an hour of sleep;

Better to sleep than live!