Travail

Travail (1920)
by Claude McKay

First published in Workers' Dreadnought , Vol VI, No.42, 10 January 1920

2651568Travail1920Claude McKay

Travail

The crimson rides the universal wind,
The raven spreads his pinions, follows after,
The eagles, leaden-winged, are left behind:
The old foundations shake from sill to rafter
Deal to the doubters' jeers, the weaklings' means.
The toilers, tired of yielding and false giving
Bend to the mighty task, with solacing groans,
Of making the earth fit for human living.
My ear is tuned unto new voices shrieking
Their jarring notes of life-exalting strife:
My soul soars singing, with flame forces seeking
The grandest purpose, noblest path of life:
Where scarlet pennants blaze like tongues of fire,
There—where high passion swells—is my heart's desire.

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.

The longest-living author of this work died in 1948, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 75 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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Travail

Travail

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