Classic Poem

We were born of night and terror in a wilderness of fear.
We were made to be your burdens till your tyrants disappear.
Hatred, greed, despair, for ages were our grandams and our sires:
We were mangled in the mountains, ringed around with frosts and fires.

Starving men begat in horror our forerunners weak as we.
Sickly mothers gave us suck. We lost our brothers in the sea.
We were seized and we were shaken by a million mouths of pain.
We were trapped and we were taken, and in torment we were slain.

We were slaves to lusts that slew us slowly. We were slaves to toil.
Chain gangs marched across the meadows. Rotting figs and rancid oil
Were our rations. We went naked in the galleys, in the sun.
We were slaves to lies that slew us slowly, surely, one by one.

Little children in your mills, and babies butchered in your streets,
Men in mines you doom to darkness; women, life's last vile defeats,
Lawyers, liars, scribes and teachers who a nation's soul betray;
Perjured priests and healers, slowly stumbling toward the light of day.

So we have defiled for ages out of darkness. Now we see
New salvation made for millions, nearer. So our thoughts go free.
Year by year you cure our bodies; teach our rotting souls to know
Well, that mind shall make immortal, life's last fear shall overthrow.
We were weak to make you stronger. Like your children we shall grow.