Bread and Roses
For your information; the video below is sung in Yiddish, with English and French subtitles.
In forty-eight, I came into this world,
whose peace, they say, was won at cost immense:
I’m told that I should genuflect and bow,
to those who worship those old gods of war,
yes, I should heed the Christian warriors’ words,
who preach from pulpit and from podium,
and show respect to them, the “great and good”,
who led us there, and hence to this bright age,
when nothing’s learned from history’s bloodstained page.
In joy, then pain, two lovers gave me life,
life cherished then, saved by our NHS:
then, “welfare please, not warfare!” was our cry,
then, health and housing fit for humankind
were once, the source of Britain’s pride and joy,
then, Bread and Roses was a hopeful song
that raised the rafters of our civic halls.
But now; who dies? big money must decide,
whilst quiet cowards enable genocide.
Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh 22nd April 2025
Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh
Thu 24th Apr 2025 10:32
Thanks for your kind comment, Hélène.
In my Chapel-going days we’d sing Bread and Roses to celebrate occasions such as Mother’s Day and the Sufragette movement. I find the following words to be particularly touching:
“As we come marching, marching, we battle, too, for men—
For they are women's children and we mother them again.”
The horrific loss of life mourned in the first part of the video is sadly, repeated time and again, as politicians advocate cost-cutting on behalf of big business. The murderous inferno of Grenfell Tower in the UK is one such example. The policies leading to it were part of “The Bonfire of Deregulation”. To this day, those who suffered in that event are denied justice, without which there can be no peace!