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Dirty Work

Arrow
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What fell thoughts mill in a copper’s head
When he leans on a midnight bell,
Rehearsing words all parents dread
From a speech he knows too well?
       Here’s dirty work, my beauty;
       Make sure your prayers are said
       For them as do their duty —
       While you lie snug a-bed.

What steels the will midst smoke and fire
As the buckling hoses spout,
To clamber up just one floor higher
While the radio shrieks Get Out!
       Here’s dirty work, my beauty;
       Make sure your prayers are said
       For them as do their duty —
       While you lie snug a-bed.

How came Ms. Parks by a soft spoke ‘No’,
Sat quiet on a downtown bus,
To pluck the feathers off Jim Crow
And to shame the likes of us?
       Here’s dirty work, my beauty;
       Make sure your prayers are said
       For them as do their duty —
       While you lie snug a-bed.

Who stoops to close the eyes of the dead
When none but his own God sees?
Who stays behind when hope has fled,
In the camps of refugees?
       Here’s dirty work, my beauty;
       Make sure your prayers are said
       For them as do their duty —
       While you lie snug a-bed.