"The Poor Man's Burden" (Excerpt)

This poem was one of a number of parodies written in response to Rudyard Kipling's "The White Man's Burden." Here the author points out the special misery that imperialism abroad places on working people back home.

Pile up the poor man's burden—
The weight of foreign wars;
Go shrewdly yoke together
Great Mercury and Mars,
And march with them to conquest,
As once did ancient Rome,
With vigor on her borders
And slow decay at home!
Pile up the poor man's burden,
Accept Great Britain's plan;
She does all things for commerce—
Scarce anything for man.
Far off among the pagans
She seeks an open door
While Pity cries in London,
"God help the British poor!"