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

I go to where celestial anthems swell;

But you, when you depart, will sink to hell.

Farewell, my mother!—cease, my anguished soul,

Nor let distraction’s billows o’er me roll!

Have mercy, Heaven! when here I cease to live,

And this last act of wretchedness forgive.

The “Pinch of Poverty”

By Francis Thompson

(English poet, 1860-1907, who lived neglected and died in misery)