Guidance for the People on Top
On the day when the unknown dead soldier
Was buried amid gun salvos
At the same midday hour
From London to Singapore
Between twelve two and twelve four
For a full two minutes, all work stopped
Simply to honor
The dead Unknown Soldier
But all the same
Perhaps instructions should be issued
For a ceremony at last to honor
The Unknown Worker
From the great cities on the teeming continents.
Someone from the tangle of traffic
Whose face no one noticed
Whose mysterious character was overlooked
Whose name was never heard distinctly
Such a person should
In the interest of us all
Be commemorated by a substantial ceremony
With a broadcast tribute
'To the Unknown Worker'
And
A stoppage of work by the whole of humanity
Over the entire planet.
Bertolt Brecht (thanks Jake)