Roof-tops, roof-tops, what do you cover? <br />Sad folk, bad folk, and many a glowing lover; <br />Wise people, simple people, children of despair -- <br />Roof-tops, roof-tops, hiding pain and care. <br /> <br />Roof-tops, roof-tops, O what sin you're knowing, <br />While above you in the sky the white clouds are blowing; <br />While beneath you, agony and dolor and grim strife <br />Fight the olden battle, the olden war of Life. <br /> <br />Roof-tops, roof-tops, cover up their shame -- <br />Wretched souls, prisoned souls too piteous to name; <br />Man himself hath built you all to hide away the stars -- <br />Roof-tops, roof-tops, you hide ten million scars. <br /> <br />Roof-tops, roof-tops, well I know you cover <br />Many solemn tragedies and many a lonely lover; <br />But ah, you hide the good that lives in the throbbing city -- <br />Patient wives, and tenderness, forgiveness, faith, and pity. <br /> <br />Roof-tops, roof-tops, this is what I wonder: <br />You are thick as poisonous plants, thick the people under; <br />Yet roofless, and homeless, and shelterless they roam, <br />The driftwood of the town who have no roof-top and no home!<br /><br />Charles Hanson Towne<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/city-roofs/
