Labour Day/Labor Day 2021

Workers of the world
Workers through time
Workers at a place
Workers enslaved
Workers bound
Workers incarcerated
Workers living in fear
Workers struggling to survive

Force
Divine right
Social contract
Capitalism
Communism
Socialism
-ism
-ism
-ism …

Workers of the world
Many known to history
Known to a time
Known to a place
There are many more who are unknown
In a time
In a place

Workers of the world
Who stood-up
Who risked limb and life
Who suffered
Who perished
Who have been forgotten
In a time
In a place

No plaques mark the site of their last breath
No one raises a pint in their name
The entire planet is hallowed ground

Because of a few
So many have
Struggled
Suffered
Starved
Shed tears for long forgotten loved ones
Who were workers of the world

Paul Cech has been writing poetry since 1970. Several of his poems have been published as Saturday Poems in the Pittsburgh- Post Gazette and the Thomas Merton Center of Pittsburgh has published several of his poems in NewPeople. Read other articles by Paul.