Classic Poem

As I came home from labour,
So stiff with sweat and pain,
I heard two starlings singing
Above the long pit-lane.

Their songs were all of summer,
And hope and love lives yet;
But I was sick and weary
And stiff with pain and sweat

They sing, thought I, of pleasure,
And pain is never done;
They sing of ease and comfort,
And comfort I have none.

There's naught for folk who labour
But misery and rue;
No ease is theirs, no solace,
No hope the whole world thro'.

And there I lingered grieving,
And heard those happy songs,
And thought of all who labour
And bear their bitter wrongs.