When the Leaves Come Out/Good Slaves and Springtime

by Ralph Hosea Chaplin

Good Slaves and Springtime

The whirring wheels go round and round,
The slaves speed on throughout the day.
More joyless, dreamless things than they
Could nowhere on the earth be found.

No other sight, no other sound,
No hope but thus to always stay.
The whirring wheels go round and round,
The slaves speed on throughout the day.

Outside, that mystery profound,
A breath of Spring from far away—
The world wakes at the call of May;
But here the master smiled or frowned,
The whirring wheels go round and round....