THE ENAMOURED BOSS TO HIS WORKMAN.
Wilt keep sweet company with me?
Wilt be my all-in-all?
I’ll give thee work, thou busy Bee,
Much work, and wages small;
No selfish thoughts our love can cross,
If thou art wholly mine:
Say, workman, shall I be thy Boss,
And thou my Valentine?
Subsisting on starvation pay,
Thou’lt find this earth a heaven,
Wherein thou’lt work twelve hours a day,
And six days out of seven.
Thy home will be a dismal slum,
Yet need’st thou not repine,
For Love illumines all, so come,
And be my Valentine.
I’ll teach thee high Malthusian lore,
Thy spirit to uplift,
And thou shalt study more and more
The blessedness of Thrift,
Nor shall thou lack, for surest bliss,
The Gospel Truths benign;
Come, seal our compact with a kiss,
And by my Valentine!
Thus pledge we both a sacred vow,
And our fond hearts engage,
That I may dwell in ease, while thou
Dost toil from youth to age;
And doubt not, when thy wasted strength
Is crushed in life’s decline,
Thou’lt find a pauper’s grave at length,
My faithful Valentine!
More Verses
- The Modern Guy Fawkes, The Commonweal, November 5, 1887
- New Form for the Swearing-in of Constables, Pall Mall Gazette, November 22, 1887
- On Mr. Bernard Shaw’s 70th Birthday, The Times, July 26, 1926
- The Making of the Brute, The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review, May 1910
- The Altruistic Flesh-Eater, The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review, May, 1926
- The Socialist not a Vegetarian, The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review, February 1928
- Bob Anderson, My Beau, Justice, January 11, 1908
- The Visit of the Tzar, Justice, July 31, 1909
- The Sufficient Reason, The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review, May, 1927
- William Godwin: A Sonnet, A Reading, His Life, Progress, April 1885