Little Textile Worker: Short English Poetry on Child Labour

Child labour refers to the employment of children in any work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful.

You may find him in the East and in the South,
This small child slave. His little eyes
Look out a weary on the world. His little mouth

Is hard and old, in babyhood; his shoulders droop.
But skinny hands fly at the broken threads,
Tie up the knot, undo the tangled loop

Unerringly, with quick, machine-like skill.
Quick-witted hands. Only they may live. The baby promise
Of all other human faculties the great machines soon kill.