Promise - poem by Rudolf Nilsen
We who own nothing
Yet created all,
built ships and roads
digged for gold and salt -
we who only suffered
powerty in town
hoped for death and rescue
every single dawn -
We who learned but nothing
from the Bible's tale,
where our weep and hatred
was a mortal sin -
we who had our babies
just to see them die,
die in war or famish
for glory or bread -
Once the day'll be ours.
now we bear and feel
Let your skill be hardened,
let it becom steel.
We who own nothing
Yet created all,
built ships and roads
digged for gold and salt -
on cobbles
(on stony ground)
Rudolf Nilsen (1901-1929)
Our Great working class poet
