A Little Song About Charity (Tune of Matty Grove) The boss came around at Christmas-- Oh smiling like a lamb-- He made me a present of a pair of gloves And then cut off my hands-- Oh and then cut off my hands. The boss came around on my birthday With some shoes of a rich man's brand. He smiled like a priest as he cut off my feet Then he said: 'Go out and dance-- Oh he said: 'Go out and dance.' The boss came around on May Day. He said: 'You may parade.' Then his cops shot us down in the open street And they clubbed us into jail. Oh they clubbed us into jail. The preacher says on Sunday: 'Turn ye the other cheek.' Don't turn it to the boss on Monday morn: He may knock out your teeth. So listen to me workers: When the boss seems kind and good Remember the stain on the cutting tool Is nothing but your blood-- Oh it's nothing but your blood. If you love your wife and daughters, And if you love your sons, And if you love the working class Then keep your love at home. Don't waste it on the cockroach boss But keep your love at home. --Thomas McGrath From 'Longshot O'Leary's Garland of Practical Poesie.' © 1949 by International Publishers, New York.

Good Days Coming



Everything changes, the wheel
 of the law turns without pause.
 After the rain, good weather.
 In the wink of an eye
 The universe throws off
 its muddy clothes.
 For ten thousand miles
 the landscape
 Spreads out like
a beautiful brocade. 
Gentle sunshine. 
Light breezes. Smiling flowers,
 Hang in the trees, amongst the sparkling leaves, 
All the birds sing at once.
 Men and animals rise up reborn. 
What could be more natural? 
After sorrow comes happiness.



--Ho Chi Minh