The Beast

The Beast (1920)
by Claude McKay

First published in Workers' Dreadnought, 10 July 1920 under the pseudonym Hugh Hope

2651680The Beast1920Claude McKay

The Beast

The statesmen-hirelings its favour seek.
   And the world's news is under its control;
Great are the powers of the mighty clique
   That owns the slaving peoples, body and soul.
Down in its shops and offices and streets
   The toilers struggle, sullen, underpaid,
And pinch-faced poverty proud Plutus meets,
   And pimps and harlots ply their wretched trade.
And in its gorgeous halls where gold holds sway
   The smirking mother offers her young daughter
To haughty men for whom all women are play
   Or babes, or ornaments, or sheep for slaughter:
Its system makes men parasites or brutes
   And tends to make all women prostitutes.

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.

The longest-living author of this work died in 1948, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 75 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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