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

Lizabetta, Marianina, Fiametta, Teresina,

They have never seen a rose-bush nor a dew-drop in the sun.

They will dream of the vendetta, Teresina, Fiametta,

Of a Black Hand and a Face behind a grating;

They will dream of cotton petals, endless, crimson, suffocating,

Never of a wild rose thicket or the singing of a cricket,

But the ambulance will bellow through the wanness of their dreams,

And their tired lids will flutter with the street’s hysteric screams.

Lizabetta, Marianina, Fiametta, Teresina,

They are winding stems of roses, one by one, one by one.