Mary and Magdalene

By Virginia Cleaver Beacon

(In “The Coming Nation.”)

Little sister of the street,
Do not hurry by!
There’s a problem we must meet
Together, you and I.

While your head with shame is bowed,
While you shun the day,
Right forbids that I be proud,
Who might have gone your way.

Did you find the road too hard,
Feet untaught must tread?
Was the honest pathway barred,—
To this the other led?

In a world where all is sold
You have sold yourself;
Poor the price the world has doled,
You win not even pelf.

Little sister of the street,
This old wrong must cease!
You and I as women meet
To give the world release.