Lewis Alexander, "The Black Pageant" (1927)
By Lewis Alexander
From the factory doors
The pageant pours
Down the mud of Pettigrew Street.
The sound of feet
Treads on my heart
And stupefies its beat.
The factories take my people's souls
And give them out in smoke.
Oh, why should souls be made to burn
And spirits thus to choke?
Published in The Messenger, April 1927