Claude McKay's Early Poetry (1911-1922): A Digital CollectionMain MenuIntroduction: About this SiteAmardeep Singh, Lehigh UniversityConstab Ballads (1912) -- Digital EditionClaude McKay's "Constab Ballads"Songs of Jamaica (1912): Digital EditionBook of poetry by Claude McKay. Preface by Walter Jekyll.Early Uncollected Poetry (1911-1922)Uncollected Poems by Claude McKay published in Jamaican, British, and American magazinesWorkers Dreadnought PoetrySpring in New Hampshire (1920): Digital EditionHarlem Shadows (1922): Digital EditionHarlem Shadows Digital EditionSelected Poems of Claude McKay (1953)Approximating the Table of Contents of "Selected Poems of Claude McKay"Criticism and Contextual EssaysWorks CitedWorks Cited for "Claude McKay's Early Poetry (1912-1922)"TEI/XML Editions (in progress/coming soon)Links to TEI versions of these textsAmardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
Labor's Day
12016-11-14T14:22:55-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1691Screen Capture of Labor's Day from The Messengerplain2016-11-14T14:22:55-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
This page is referenced by:
12016-11-12T23:12:39-05:00Labor's Day2The Messenger, September 1919plain2016-11-14T14:24:15-05:00 Once poets in their safe and calm retreat Essayed the singing of the fertile soil, The workmen, bare-armed in the noonday heat, Happy and grateful at his peaceful toil; But now their voices hollow sound and cold, Like imitated music, false and strange, Or half truths of a day that could not hold Its own against the eternal tide of change. For Labor, Lord, himself will limn his life And sing the modern songs of hope and vision, And write the inspired tale of long-drawn strife While mocked the poor blind world in grim derision, Until she opened wide her eyes in awe To see a new world under labor's law!
(The Messenger, September 1919.) (Thanks to Chris Forster for locating the scan of The Messenger in HathiTrust. Re-typed and proofread by Amardeep Singh)
