An Imperial Rescript by Rudyard Kipling — Read

Now this is the tale of the Council the German Kaiser decreed, / To ease the strong of their burden, to help the weak in their need, / He sent a word to the peoples, who struggle, and pant, and sweat, / That the straw might be counted fairly and the tally of bricks be set.

The Lords of Their Hands assembled; from the East and the West they drew -- / Baltimore, Lille, and Essen, Brummagem, Clyde, and Crewe. / And some were black from the furnace, and some were brown from the soil, / And some were blue from the dye-vat; but all were wearied of toil.