How Many Poor! by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

"Whene'er I take my walks abroad, how many poor I see! " / Said pious Watts, and thanked the Lord that not so poor was he. / I see so many poor to-day I think I'll walk no more, / And then the poor in long array come knocking at my door. / The hungry poor! The dirty poor! The poor of evil smell! / Yet even these we could endure if they were only well! / But, O, this sick and crippled crew! The lame, the deaf, the blind! / What can a Christian person do with these upon his mind! / They keep diseases growing still like plants on greenhouse shelves, / And they're so generous they will not keep them to themselves; / They propagate amazing crimes and vices scandalous, / And then at most uncertain times they wreak the same on us! / With charity we would prevent this poverty and woe, / But find the more we've fondly spent, the more the poor do grow! / We've tried by punishment full sore to mend the case they're in; / The more we punish them the more they sin, and sin, and sin! / We make the punishment more kind, we give them wise reform, / And they, with a contented mind, flock to our prisons warm! / Then science comes with solemn air, and shows us social laws, / Explaining how the poor are there from a purely natural cause. / 'Tis natural for low and high to struggle and to strive; / 'Tis natural for the worse to die and the better to survive. / We swallowed all this soothing stuff, and easily were led / To think if we were stern enough, the poor would soon be dead. / But, O! in vain we squeeze, and grind, and drive them to the wall- / For all our deadly work we find it does not kill them all! / The more we struggle they survive! increase and multiply! / There seem to be more poor alive, in spite of all that die! / Whene'er I take my walks abroad how many poor I see, / And eke at home! How long, O Lord! How long must this thing be!