Songs of the Industrial Workers of the World (4th Australian edition)/The Ninety and Nine
THE NINETY AND NINE.
By Rose Elizabeth Smith.
(Tune: "Ninety and Nine.")
There are ninety and nine that work and die,
In hunger and want and cold,
That one may revel in luxury,
And be lapped in the silken fold.
And ninety and nine in their hovels bare,
And one in a place of riches rare.
From the sweat of their brow the desert blooms,
And the forest before them falls;
Their labor has builded humble homes,
And cities with lofty halls;
And the one owns cities and houses and lands,
And the ninety and nine have empty hands.
But the night so dreary and dark and long,
At last shall the morning bring;
And over the land the victor's song,
Of the ninety and nine shall ring,
And echo afar, from zone to zone,
"Rejoice! for Labor shall have its own."
