nenya_kanadka: Wonder Woman poster (kneeling with sword) (DC Wonder Woman sunset)
nenya_kanadka ([personal profile] nenya_kanadka) wrote2017-08-26 10:01 pm

Protest - Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919)

(Bolded lines are titles of Orphan Black season 5 episodes. (Still rewatching--just started season 2. My days of crushing madly on Siobhan Sadler are certainly coming to a middle.) I really love "To Right the Wrongs of Many" as a title for the series finale--and it fits the episode, too.)


To sin by silence, when we should protest,
Makes cowards out of men. The human race
Has climbed on protest. Had no voice been raised
Against injustice, ignorance, and lust,
The inquisition yet would serve the law,
And guillotines decide our least disputes.
The few who dare, must speak and speak again
To right the wrongs of many. Speech, thank God,
No vested power in this great day and land
Can gag or throttle. Press and voice may cry
Loud disapproval of existing ills;
May criticise oppression and condemn
The lawlessness of wealth-protecting laws
That let the children and childbearers toil
To purchase ease for idle millionaires.

Therefore I do protest against the boast
Of independence in this mighty land.
Call no chain strong, which holds one rusted link.
Call no land free, that holds one fettered slave.
Until the manacled slim wrists of babes
Are loosed to toss in childish sport and glee,
Until the mother bears no burden, save
The precious one beneath her heart, until
God’s soil is rescued from the clutch of greed
And given back to labor, let no man
Call this the land of freedom.
lilysea: Books (Books)

[personal profile] lilysea 2017-08-27 05:57 am (UTC)(link)
Huh, I didn't know the episode titles were taken from a poem!

Thank you for sharing! ^_^
st_aurafina: Dark-haired woman with spectacles and locks, she is grinning widely (Orphan Black: Cosima)

[personal profile] st_aurafina 2017-08-27 09:01 am (UTC)(link)
I haven't watched the final season but I really like knowing where the quotes have come from - this is a great poem, I wasn't familiar with it. Thank you!
umadoshi: umadoshi kanji (Orphan Black - undocumented (charmingway)

[personal profile] umadoshi 2017-08-28 01:40 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, that is really neat--I had no idea where the episode titles came from (and never Googled them, clearly).
genarti: Fountain pen lying on blank paper, nib in close focus. ([misc] ink on the page)

[personal profile] genarti 2017-08-28 04:43 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, I like that poem a whole lot. Thanks for sharing it!