Classic Poem

Once I made a political creed out of justice to the down-trodden,
And swore that I would rather consort with prostitutes and pimps,
With the ignorant and the criminal,
Outcast and the oppressed …
Not knowing, of course,
That I was moved, not by a love of Truth and of Justice,
But by a love of self …
For my self was low and belonged among the low,
And I hid the fact
By thinking I was one of the great and high
Overflowing with brotherly love.