VOICE OF THE VOICELESS
I am the voice of the
voiceless:
Through me, the dumb
shall speak;
Till the deaf world's
ear be made to hear
The cry of the wordless
weak.
From street, from cage,
and from kennel,
From jungle and stall,
the wail
Of my tortured kin proclaims
the sin
Of the mighty against
the frail.
For love is the true religion,
And love is the law sublime;
And all that is wrought,
where love is not,
Will die at the touch
of time.
And Science, the great
revealer,
Must flame his torch
at the source;
And keep it bright, with
that holy light
Or his feet shall fail
on the course.
For he who would trample
kindness
And mercy into the dust
--
He has missed the trail,
and his quest will fail:
He is not the guide to
trust.
Oh shame on the mothers
of mortals
Who have not stopped
to teach
Of the sorrow that lies
in dear, dumb eyes,
The sorrow that has no
speech.
Oh, never a brute in the
forest,
And never a snake in
the fen,
Or ravening bird, starvation
stirred,
Has hunted his prey like
men.
For hunger, and fear,
and passion
Alone drive beasts to
slay,
But wonderful man, the
crown of the plan,
Tortures, and kills,
FOR PLAY.
He goes well fed from
his table;
He kisses his child and
wife;
Then he haunts a wood,
till he orphans a brood,
Or robs a deer of its
life.
He aims at a speck in
the azure;
Winged love, that has
flown at a call;
It reels down to die,
and he lets it lie;
His pleasure was seeing
it fall.
The same force formed
the sparrow
That fashioned Man, the
King;
The God of the Whole
gave a spark of soul
To each furred and feathered
thing.
And I am my brother's
keeper,
And I will fight his
fight,
And speak the word for
beast and bird,
Till the world shall
set things right.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox
~
Published by the American
Humane Assoc. Albany, NY
