To The Christians.

Take, then, your paltry Christ,
    Your gentleman God.
We want the carpenter's son,
    With his saw and hod.

We want the man who loved
    The poor and oppressed,
Who hated the rich man and king
    And the scribe and the priest.

We want the Galilean
    Who knew cross and rod.
It's your "good taste" that prefers
    A bastard God!

Francis William Lauderdale Adams

Francis William Lauderdale Adams (27 September 1862 – 4 September 1893) was an English writer, poet, dramatist, and social reformer. His literary work often reflected his radical socialist views. Adams lived a life marred by poverty and struggles with his health, eventually committing suicide at the age of 30. Despite his brief life, his contributions to literature and social thought remain significant.

Francis William Lauderdale Adams

The Fisherman. (Mindanao, Philippines.)

Francis William Lauderdale Adams, Simple Poetry

Ireland.

Francis William Lauderdale Adams, Simple Poetry

Elsie: A Memory.

Francis William Lauderdale Adams, Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

Jesus.

Where is poor Jesus gone?
    He sits with Dives now,
And not even the crumbs are flung
    To Lazarus below.

Where is poor Jesus gone?
    Is he with Magdalen?
He doles her one by one
    Her wages of shame!

Where is poor Jesus gone?
    The good Samaritan,
What does he there alone?
    He stabs the wounded man!

Where is poor Jesus gone,
    The lamb they sacrificed?
They've made God of his carrion
    And labelled it "Christ!"

Francis William Lauderdale Adams

To John Ruskin. (After Reading His "Modern Painters.")

Yes, you do well to mock us, you
    Who knew our bitter woe -
To jeer the false, deny the true
    In us blind struggling low,

While, on your pleasant place aloft
    With flowers and clouds and streams,
At our black sweat and toil you scoffed
    That marred your idle dreams.

"Oh, freedom, what was that to us,"
(You'd shout down to us there),
"Except the freedom foul, vicious,
    From all of good and fair?

"Obedience, faith, humility,
    To us were empty names." -
The like to you (might we reply)
    Whose noisy life proclaims

Presumption, want of human love,
    Impatience, filthy breath, {32}
The snob in soul who looks above,
    Trampling on what...

Francis William Lauderdale Adams

New Guinea "Converts."

I saw them as they were born,
    Erect and fearless and free,
Facing the sun and the wind
    Of the hills and the sea.

I saw them naked, superb,
    Like the Greeks long ago,
With shield and spear and arrow
    Ready to strike and throw.

I saw them as they were made
    By the Christianizing crows,
Blinking, stupid, clumsy
    In their greasy ill-cut clothes:

I heard their gibbering cant,
    And they sung those hymns that smell
Of poor souls besotted, degraded
    With the fear of "God" and "hell."

And I thought if Jesus could see them,
    He who loved the freedom, the light,
And loathed those who compassed heaven
    And earth for one proselyte,

To make him, etcetera, etcetera, -
    Then this sight, ...

Francis William Lauderdale Adams

In The Street. Lord - - .

You have done well, we say it. You are dead,
    And, of the man that with the right hand takes
Less than the left hand gives, let it be said
    He has done something for our wretched sakes.
For those to whom you gave their daily bread
    Rancid with God-loathed "charity," their drink
Putrid with man-loathed "sin," we bow our head
    Grateful, as the great hearse goes by, and think.
Yes, you have fed the flesh and starved the soul
    Of thousands of us; you have taught too well
The rich are little gods beyond control,
    Save of your big God of the heaven and hell.
We thank you. This was pretty once, and right.
Now it wears rather thin. My lord, good night!

Francis William Lauderdale Adams

Aux Ternes. {46} (Paris.)

SHE. - "Up and down, up and down,
            From early eve to early day.
        Life is quicker in the town;
            When you've leisure, anyway!

        "Down and up, down and up!
            O will no one stop and speak?
        I would really like to sup,
            And my limbs are heavy and weak.

        "What's my price, sir? I'm no Jew.
            If with me you wish to sleep,
        'Tis five francs, sir. Surely you
            Will admit that that is cheap?"

HE. - "Christ, if you are not stone blind,
        Stone deaf also, you know it is
    Christian towns leave far behind
        Sodom and thos...

Francis William Lauderdale Adams

Henry George. (Melbourne.)

I came to buy a book. It was a shop
Down in a narrow quiet street, and here
They kept, I knew, these socialistic books.
I entered. All was bare, but clean and neat.
The shelves were ranged with unsold wares; the counter
Held a few sheets and papers. Here and there
Hung prints and calendars. I rapped, and straight
A young girl came out through the inner door.
She had a clear and simple face; I saw
She had no beauty, loveliness, nor charm,
But, as your eyes met those grey light-lit eyes
Like to a mountain spring so pure, you thought:
"He'd be a clever man who looked, and lied!"
I asked her for the book. . . . We spoke a little. . . .
Her words were as her face was, as her eyes.
Yes, she'd read many books like this of mine:
Also some poets, Shelley, Byron too,

Francis William Lauderdale Adams