Born in the dust of poverty and shame,
And nurtured in neglect, with tarnished name,
A hunger-goaded waif to Zion came.
His was a sordid tale, and hundreds more,
Helpless as he, had wandered there before,
To pray for work and wage from door to door.
I know not if with him was child or wife
For whom he bore the burden, strove the strife,
Who shared with him the bitterness of life:
