My text is not taken from ballroom
Or palace of those who are gay;
I'd rather these lines were a heart-throb
To echo the life of today …

To echo the lives of the toilers
Who carry the burdens of earth;
While those whom they love are ill-nourished
And curse the sad day of their birth.

I've toiled since the days of my childhood
In shops and in factory hells;
And the sorry result of my labor
My careworn countenance tells.

I have lived in the midst of the lowly,
Where sunshine is awfully rare;
Where babes in their cradles must perish
Because of the pestilent air.

I have lived and hoped and struggled
For freedom that seemed so remote;—
And when I was weary and downcast
I stayed in my hallroom and wrote.