Friday, May 22, 2020

Too Long. (1919)

From the May 1919 issue of the Socialist Standard
Too long they have been harnessed to the mill
That of ten thousand lives grinds life for one ;
Too long denied an hour of blessed sun,
From dark ere dawning sweating blood until
Again the dark of night. So did they fill
Your coffers to the brim with gold fine spun
Of brain and tissue ; and their labour done,
Found grudged rest beneath a lone grass hill. 
And dare they hope, ye ask, the break of day,
Whom we accorded leisure of the night ?
Presume to harvest any they have sown ?
Aye, do they dare ! And who shall them gainsay,
Or ban a little hour of waning light ?
Aye, they do dare to hope and have their own !
Edmund B. Fitzgerald.

1 comment:

Imposs1904 said...

Okay, this is a bit of a mystery. I can find no record of a poet names Edmund B. Fitzgerald on the net. The poem itself doesn't give me any clues either, and there is no Edmund B. Fitzgerald listed a member of the SPGB.

There was a poet named Edward Fitzgerald, who is best known for the English translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, which may be a clue because it was a work that early party members knew well, but I'm still not even 75% sure that it's the same person.

It remains a mystery.