The Song of the Shirt
Thomas Hood
1799 to 1845
Drag the words to the correct places to complete the poem. To reset the game, click on the "Reset Game" button located below the poem. This will clear all the words you've placed in the blanks, returning them to the word bank and resetting the poem to its original state with empty blanks.
With fingers weary and worn,
With eyelids heavy ______ red,
A Woman sat, in unwomanly rags,
______ her needle and thread—
Stitch! stitch! stitch!
______ poverty, hunger, and dirt,
And still with the ______ of dolorous pitch
She sang the "Song of ______ Shirt!"
"Work! Work! Work!
While the ______ is crowing aloof!
And work—work—work,
Till the ______ shine through the roof!
It's O! to be ______ slave
Along with the barbarous Turk,
Where ______ has never a soul to save
If this ______ Christian work!
"Work—work—work
Till the brain begins ______ swim,
Work—work—work
Till the eyes are heavy ______ dim!
Seam, and gusset, and band,
Band, ______ gusset, and seam,
Till over the buttons I ______ asleep,
And sew them on in a dream!
"O, Men with Sisters dear!
O, Men! with ______ and Wives!
It is not linen you're wearing out,
But human creatures' lives!
Stitch—stitch—stitch,
In poverty, hunger, and dirt,
Sewing at once, with a ______ thread,
A Shroud as well as a Shirt.
"But why do I talk of Death!
That ______ of grisly bone,
I hardly fear his terrible shape,
It seems so like my own—
It ______ so like my own,
Because of the fasts ______ keep;
O God! that bread should be so dear,
And flesh and blood so cheap!
"Work—work—work!
My labour never flags;
And what are its wages? A bed of straw,
A crust of bread—and rags.
That shatter'd roof,—and this naked floor—
______ table—a broken chair—
And a wall so blank, ______ shadow I thank
For sometimes falling there!
"Work—work—work!
From weary chime to chime,
Work—work—work—
______ prisoners work for crime!
Band, and gusset, and seam,
Seam, and gusset, and band,
Till the ______ is sick, and the brain benumb'd,
As well ______ the weary hand.
"Work—work—work,
In the dull ______ light,
And work—work—work,
When the weather is ______ and bright—
While underneath the eaves
The ______ swallows cling,
As if to show me their ______ backs
And twit me with the spring.
"O, but to breathe the breath
Of the cowslip ______ primrose sweet!—
With the sky above my head,
And the grass beneath my feet;
For ______ one short hour
To feel as I used ______ feel,
Before I knew the woes of want
And the walk that costs a meal!
"O, ______ for one short hour!
A respite however brief!
No blessed leisure for Love or Hope,
But ______ time for Grief!
A little weeping would ease ______ heart,
But in their briny bed
My ______ must stop, for every drop
Hinders needle and thread!
"Seam, and gusset, and band,
Band, and gusset, and seam,
Work, work, work,
Like the ______ that works by Steam!
A mere machine of ______ and wood
That toils for Mammon's sake—
______ a brain to ponder and craze
Or a ______ to feel—and break!"
—With fingers weary and worn,
With eyelids heavy and red,
A Woman sat, in unwomanly rags,
Plying her needle and thread—
Stitch! stitch! stitch!
In poverty, hunger, and dirt,
And still with a voice of dolorous pitch,—
Would that its tone could reach the Rich!—
She sang this "Song of the Shirt!"