Poverty!

II.

Since the creation of the world, since man was spoken into being,
she has travelled over the earth, she has dwelt among men, she
sings as she journeys, and works as she sings:

The Goddess--the good Goddess of Poverty!

III.

Men gathered together to curse her. They found her too gay, too
active, too strong, and too beautiful. They said: 'Let us tear
off her wings, let us load her with chains, let us lay her low
with blows, let her suffer, let her die:

The Goddess--the strong Goddess of Poverty!'

IV.

They chained the good Goddess, they bruised and persecuted her, but
they could not degrade her, for she sought refuge in the souls
of poets, in the souls of peasants, in the souls of women, in
the souls of artists, in the souls of saints:

The Goddess--the good Goddess of Poverty!

V.

She has travelled longer than the Wandering Jew; she has journeyed
farther than the swallow; she is older than the cathedral of
Prague, yet younger than the little egg of the golden-crested
wren; she has multiplied more upon the earth than the crimson
strawberry in the green woods of Bohemia:

The Goddess--the good Goddess of Poverty!

VI.

She is the mother of many children, and has taught them all the
secrets of God; she spoke to the heart of Jesus upon the mount;
to the eyes of Queen Libussa when she loved a peasant; to the
spirit of John and Jerome on the pyre of Constance; she has
more knowledge than all the doctors and all the bishops:

The Goddess--the good Goddess of Poverty!

VII.

She makes all the grand and beautiful things that are to be seen
upon the earth; it is she who cultivates the fields and prunes
the trees; it is she who leads the flocks, breathing songs from
her heart; it is she who catches the first crimsoning of the
dawn, who receives the first smile of the rising sun:

The Goddess--the good Goddess of Poverty!

VIII.

It is she who twines the green branches to make a little cabin for
the woodman; who gives the piercing glance of the eagle to the
poacher; it is she who brings up the prettiest and strongest
little urchins; and who makes the spade and plough light