"The Cry of the Children" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

from The Cry of the Children
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Do ye hear the children weeping, O my brothers,   
      Ere the sorrow comes with years?   
They are leaning their young heads against their mothers,   
      And that cannot stop their tears.   
The young lambs are bleating in the meadows,           
  The young birds are chirping in the nest,   
The young fawns are playing with the shadows,   
  The young flowers are blowing toward the west:   
But the young, young children, O my brothers,   
      They are weeping bitterly!           
They are weeping in the playtime of the others,   
      In the country of the free.