the children of the revolution portrayed as the saviors their picture painted on the eternal canvas but they never had a choice they never saw the sun never felt what we feel faces streaked not with a smile but with slashes of coal backs hurting not from playing all day but from carrying weights heavier than themselves feet sore not from playing tag but from walking for hours on end never resting trapped in a perpetual life an inescapable cage built up from empty promises and troubled times everyone high off the cruelty and pain but no one with the courage to stop it for all the young spirits are trapped waiting for the last ball to drop the shortest straw to be pulled for everyone to wake up and see what’s right in front of them so they wait wait for the day they can call something their own wait for the day they can be whole wait for the day they can go home for good so yes, they were saviors but at what cost for the children of the revolution were never really children at all
Artist Statement I was inspired to write this poem when we learned about child labor in class. It astounded me what children went through during the Industrial Revolution in this country and worldwide throughout time. I drew from the fact that the children that worked in the factories during the Industrial Revolution in the US served as a platform for the building of this country, but these children were forced into this work and many died or were severely injured. I wanted to draw attention to this issue since child labor is still a huge issue in many countries today.