Prisoners are we,American citizens imprisonedFor daring in the name of DemocracyTo protest against the continued denialOf the right of self-governmentTo twenty millions of the American people.
We lie in a dungeonLong ago abandoned and condemned,Just as politically we are heldImprisoned in a subjectionAbandoned and condemnedBy every other nation of English speech and spirit.
Painfully raising my head,I look down the long rowOf gray-blanketed heaps.Under every heap a woman,Weak, sick, but determined,Twenty gray fortresses of determination.