The New Enclosures
Inspired by John Ball at Blackheath, June 12, 1381
When hands first traded and neighbors lent,
Before the charter, the vault, and the mint,
When trust was the ledger and credit was free,
Who cornered the coin and the usury?
When we built with our timber and slept on the earth,
Before the surveyor had parceled its worth,
When the commons lay open for shelter and bread,
Who fenced off the acres and policed the shed?
With zoning and codes to keep shanties at bay,
And vagrancy statutes to sweep us away,
While tax-funded badges guard land left unused,
Who profits from shelter the poor are refused?
When skill was a birthright that anyone learned,
And the price of a trade was the wage that you earned,
Before the state board locked the craft with a fee,
Who taxed honest work just to let you be free?
When tools could be mended and songs could be sung,
And knowledge belonged to the mind and the tongue,
Before the new patents locked up every part,
Who outlawed repair and monopolized art?
When lodges and mutual societies stood,
And doctors were hired by the neighborhood,
Before the cartel locked the clinic and ward,
Who priced out the sick that the lodge could afford?
When workers could boycott and strike on their own,
And bargain direct without state chaperone,
Before the state tamed the union and hall,
Who pacified labor to answer their call?
If no one is born with a deed in their hand,
By what right do the few put a fence round the land?
When the wealth is all made by the sweat of the brow,
Who minted the chains that are binding us now?