Let not young souls be smothered out before
They do quaint deeds and fully flaunt their pride.
It is the world's one crime its babes grow dull,
Its poor are ox-like, limp and leaden-eyed.
Not that they starve; but starve so dreamlessly,
Not that they sow, but that they seldom reap,
Not that they serve, but have no gods to serve,
Not that they die, but that they die like sheep.
It doesn’t bother the author that the ‘poor’ sow – that they’re working hard in the fields. It’s more a crime in his eyes that these people rarely reap the benefits of their work. The rewards are either going to those the ‘poor’ work for, or what they reap is merely sufficient for survival. 

The Leaden Eyed