JOE HILL'S LAST WILL (JOE HILL) (Nov 18, 1915)

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A guard reported that at about 10 p.m., Hill handed him a poem through the bars of his cell. It was his last will, which has become a prized piece of poetry in the heritage of the American labor movement....

Gibbs M. Smith, Labor Martyr Joe Hill, New York, NY, 1969, p. 174.

First published in the March 1916 edition (ninth edition; "Joe Hill Memorial Edition") of the Industrial Worker "Little Red Songbook."

My will is easy to decide,
For there is nothing to divide.
My kind don't need to fuss and moan --
"Moss does not cling to a rolling stone."

My body? Ah, If I could choose,
I would to ashes it reduce,
And let the merry breezes blow
My dust to where some flowers grow.

Perhaps some fading flower then
Would come to life and bloom again.
This is my last and final will.
Good luck to all of you.

Joe Hill

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