I Am The People, The Mob
I AM the people the mob the crowd the mass.
Do you know that all the great work of the world is
Done through me?
I am the workingman, the inventor, the maker of the
World’s food and clothes.
I am the audience that witnesses history. The Napoleons
Come from me and the Lincolns. They die. And
Then I send forth more Napoleons and Lincolns.
I am the seed ground. I am a prairie that will stand
For much plowing. Terrible storms pass over me.
I forget. The best of me is sucked out and wasted.
I forget. Everything but Death comes to me and
Makes me work and give up what I have. And I
Forget.
Sometimes I growl, shake myself and spatter a few red
Drops for history to remember. Then I forget.
When I, the People, learn to remember, when I, the
People, use the lessons of yesterday and no longer
Forget who robbed me last year, who played me for
A fool then there will be no speaker in all the world
Say the name: “The People,” with any fleck of a
Sneer in his voice or any far-off smile of derision.
The mob the crowd the mass will arrive then.
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