The guardian. [volume] (Boston, Mass.) 1901-1960, 1940-01-20
Ring out the old, ring in the new ----
Ring out the false, ring in the true"
A LAUGH AT CASTE
By GEORGE A. TOWNS


1 laugh, yes, laugh loud and sometimes long,
Those muddy brains, perCeiving not
The joke of "houses just good across the tracks,
The separate waitingroom, beginning spickand-span,
But apsing grimy from gross neglect.
And at my fellows too, often laugh,
Who fumbling fail to feel, or see, the point,
Identical but separate" well concealed,
Obsequious and fawnng, comical for gain
Suspecting not the petty prize they win
Is more badge of deep contempt.
At school Also elaborate equipped
In latest style, 'The latest word
In building, fixtures, plant, and all for you"
And then grin, that all this good revealed,
IT'S thought my poor, slow wit could never find,
Although the SNUG conceit is i'll concealed.
When the train, alone of all my kind Sit
The engines deafening blow, it can not drown
The inward laugh | raise at "Man-Street" pride
That blooms but one brief day upon slender stem,
Rectng to hungry man with pocket full of cash:
The price and service just the same but late in turn
And in the court of Justice, often would l scream
When long and solemn face eXaCts an oath,
While finger under eye should pull it down in mockery
Of ageold Justice, deemed blind.
| only laugh-what must the good God think
When Caste, the other god, makes sport
Of such affairs of men? | can but laugh
That two mllleniumS, not yet, have purged
The holy place where men bow blandly first
To the great god, Caste, and then, like fools
In anti-ClimaX, say to of darker hue,
CHOW take your turn, the self same way,
The sef-same place, but later"
Just see the crowd of men so busy in the mart
They eye my coin and wish it much
Too dull to see, the more earn the more they get,
That drawing cord to make for shallow purse,
Shuts out the gold from their own money bags:
laugh, loudly laugh at them,
Like men who seeking water in a pail,
Pump with vgor over empty we'll.
And when beloved Shakespeare's role some would
Behold by mounting iron stairs preCarious outside
And by compulsion more than preference,
10 see the play and all its trappings Gust as
Well" chucke at the seller and the buyer
And pity both deceiver and deceived
For there is nothing just as good however old
That bears the breed and faint of Caste.
AS we'll proclaim that age-old leprosy
Is just as good as rich and ruddy blood
When danger ominous to State
When proven valorous deeds must nominate
The best to stem the tide of molten steel
Consuming as it sweeps DER brink of hell
Then all the shoulders bearing guns are brothers.
No difference then-al are, fodder-lke
Together rammed in cannon throat.
But when, the fighting done,
The victory won,
A fete is made
To celebrate the victory in parade
The SCARED and dauntless heroes are forgot
A pseudo lapse of memory, seen too plain
Who would not laugh at that?
So, Just watch this funny game of life
With all its varied clowns in every field
Some merry, some devout and some in strife
Who do not share the mirth they to me yield
| laugh uproarious laugh at this vast comedy
With scenes too big for any stage,
And varied as the landscape from moving car
With actors numerous and nationwide
Deceiving and deceived
Now, if I see the game of life upset
BY men protesting still to play
In fairness under eye of solemn Judge
Whom none can bride, and all the while
With faces straight and brow intent
AS If to make confusion were the game
II that, say, be not joke to split you open WIDE
Then laugh at me, say what you will,
And by your judgment, I'll abide
ATM TEDTRcE