Classic Poem

If they could find a voice, these little ones,
That freeze by night and hunger all the day,
If they could find a voice and speak to you,
What think you, men and women, would they say?

They would say, If God had told them, up in heaven,
Of the welcome that awaited them on earth,
And had let them choose to stay with Him for ever,
Or to taste the awful mystery of birth;

Though it would have been most bitter not to listen
To the prayers of women waiting for their birth,
They would have stayed for ever up in heaven,
And would never have descended to the earth.

But they came, (oh, little feet!) not knowing whither,—
Did not dream but that the earth would serve them well;
Did not dream that they were wandering out of heaven
To encounter all the miseries of hell.

“But now that we are with you, men and women,”
They would say, if they could only find the word,
“We pray you do not turn to bitter crying
What should be the sweetest music ever heard.

“For the fathers and the mothers that God gave us
Did for us the very best that they could do,
But they perished with their over-work and sorrow,
And we turn from their dead faces unto you.

“Will you help us to be innocent and happy?
Will you help us to be womanly and pure?
Will you save us from the terrible temptations
That for ever lie in waiting for the poor?

“Will you snatch us from the dreadful tooth of famine,
From the sharper tooth of ignorance and sin?
Will you lead us from this fearful outer darkness
To the light which evermore doth shine within?

“If you will, O men and women, we will bless you;
And the children that God lets you call your own
Shall reward you, with their sweetest baby murmurs,
For not leaving us to perish all alone.”

If they could find a voice, these little ones,
That freeze by night and hunger all the day,—
If they could find a voice and speak to you,
Men and women, it is this that they would say.