Beryl Cross
Victorian Underlings
We are the poor men at the gate,
Foot soldiers officers berate,
Micawber-debtors; constant fate
Renders us underlings.
We are the women, bastard-born,
Whose base-born children, thin, forlorn,
Glean harvest fields for meagre corn;
Less spoil for underlings.
We touch our forelocks to the squires,
Suppress all dreams of Chartist fires,
Deny our Radical desires
And stay as underlings.
We bend our backs from breakpoint loads,
Smash stones in gangs for railways, roads,
Stitch linen, eyes bulging like toads –
All of us underlings.
We sign our names with a rough cross,
Hiding our sorrow at each loss
Through tragic death; mere human dross –
They were but underlings.
Yet in the parish church at prayer
Or singing hymns, conscience clear,
Our faith in Heaven will take us there –
No longer underlings.
Page(s) 43
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