Classic Poem

for Eugene Debs

When I went to the big city to meet my little brother,
Wondering how I would find him, a drop in so great an ocean,
My heart filled with concern lest we might pass each other unseen,
Then it was that I discovered the terrible poverty of the rich city,
And discovered the unbounded riches of my poor brother:
And then it was the city that was small and mean and hard to find,
And then it was my brother who was big and generous and easy to see,
For the city could answer questions but could not answer the main question,
While my brother who could not answer questions could answer the main question,
For the main question is not the question of property but of souls,
For the main question is not the question of how much fame you have but of how much justice you contain,
And the city asked the question of love could only answer with hate,
But my brother asked the question of love answered with love again over and over.

I see him now, the single man confronting the million men,
And I see him now, his forefinger raised, calling upon the million for reasons,
And I see him now waiting, waiting, with gentle assuaging eyes, silent, so silent,
And I see that the million are unable to give the divine reasons: the questioner, my brother, standing there, is asking for reasons:
Not the reasons of goods, not the reasons of ambition and reputation:
Not these reasons: he knows all about these reasons but these reasons do not satisfy him:
He stands there asking for reasons of equity — asking for reasons of right:
Asking for no reasons of enemies or owners — asking only for reasons of brothers:
And the proud city is humbled, lost for the one vital reason in the thousand reasons,
And the august city is shaken to its roots before this simple accuser,
And that which seemed built upon eternal foundations of might rocks to its fall.

It was no accident that brought the outcasts and the victims to my brother:
They came in their hunger and thirst knowing he would not turn them away.
They would not knock at the doors of the contented and the comfortable,
They did not go to the storehouses looking for charity, begging the dole of alms —
They went straight to him invoking his measureless good will
They figured well: look at him as he stands there: he is their defiant spokesman:
He refuses nobody: he has room enough for all: they crowd him full.
Stand aside, you starving cities, you adverse populations, for your master comes:
(My brother, master of the bad: my brother, servant of the good):
He will feed you, cities, so that you may lift yourselves out of death:
He will overthrow you who league against him: he is the evangel of the light:
Sunbeams are his swordblades: before them falsehoods perish.
Stand aside, you scholars, lying in your learning — he speaks words not familiar in your well dressed jargon:
Though you call him by dreaded names, though you reject him, laughing at his message,
The crowd draws near, sees his face — the vulgar crowd that you scorn needs no introduction:
It takes him up — it puts him on its shoulders — it proclaims him its voice!
Stand aside, listen: (what do I hear?): he is citing you for contempt —
You have disinherited your innocent children and he is calling you to account.

There is a fierce fire spread over the nations: my brother is the answer to the fire:
There is a wrathful wind blowing across the seas: my brother is the answer to the wind:
There is a black despair settling upon the peoples: my brother is the answer to the despair:
There is the clank of slave chains growing clearer and clearer in our ears: my brother is the answer to the chains:
He comes in the fulness of evil times and knocks the cup from your hand.

I thought I would not know my little brother in the big city,
But I found I hardly knew the little city in my big brother:
I would remember nothing about the big city if I did not remember my little brother,
For I learned that my little brother was big enough to contain ten thousand big cities with room to spare
When I went to the big city to meet my little brother.