A brief poem of a single sentence but too powerful that it speaks a lot of things. The first line mentions the golf links which suggests the luxurious game thus symbolizes wealth. The second line mentions of the mill which may suggest the rice mill that can symbolize food as basic necessity. The first two lines draw the distinction between the two socio-economic classes: the rich and the poor.
The last two lines is an example of irony: the laboring children and the men at play. Shouldn’t it be the men working and the children playing? It speaks of child labor, of course, and injustice. While children work in the mill for food, the lazy and wealthy men are in the golf links playing the game of luxury.
This poem is talking about child labor, injustice and the gap between the rich and the poor.
The Golf Links: Sarah N. Cleghorn
The golf links lie
So near the mill
That each passing day
The laboring children
Can watch the men at play.
