We Lean on One Another

We Lean on One Another

Original Text
The Poetical Works of Alexander McLachlan, ed. Edward Hartley Dewart (Toronto: William Briggs, 1900): 375-76. Internet Archive.
1Oh, come and listen while I sing
2    A song of human nature;
3For, high or low, we're all akin
4    To ev'ry human creature:
5We're all the children of the same,
6    The great, the "mighty mother,"
7And from the cradle to the grave
8    We lean on one another.
9It matters little what we wear,
10    How high or low our station,
11We're all alike the slaves of sin
12    And sons of tribulation.
13No matter what may be the coat
14    With which our breasts we cover,
15Our hearts within are of one stuff,
16    And link'd to one another.
17The earth beneath's our common home,
18    The heavens bending o'er us,
19And wheresoever we may turn
20    Eternity's before us.
21Thro' pride and envy we have been
22    But strangers to each other,
23But Nature meant that we should lean
24    In love on one another.
25With Adam from the bow'r of bliss
26    We all alike were driven,
28    Must square accounts with heaven.
29We're all in need of sympathy--
30    Tho' pride the fact would smother--
31And it's as little's we can do
32    To comfort one another.
33A fool's a fool, the wide world o'er,
34    Whate'er may be his station;
35A snob's a snob, tho' he may hold
36    The sceptre of the nation.
37And Wisdom was ordained to rule--
38    (Tho' knaves that truth would smother)--
39That all the human race might live
40    In love with one another.
41A king may need our sympathy.
42    For all his great attendance;
43Among all men there's no such thing
44    As perfect independence.
45Tho' great is mighty England's heir.
47And from the cabin to the throne
48    We lean on one another.

Notes

27] cadger: street-seller. Back to Line
46] Paddy: an Irishman's name. Back to Line
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2011
Rhyme
Form