Toyohiko Kagawa adalah seorang Kristiani yang dilahirkan dari keluarga berada. Dia memutuskan untuk mengabdikan hidupnya menurut jalan yang telah Kristus tempuh di atas kayu salib bagi seluruh umat manusia. Dia mendedikasikan sepanjang hidupnya kepada kaum papa marjinal.

3 puisinya yang sangat terkenal diambil dari “Songs from the Slums”:

THE BURDEN

Take Thou the burden, Lord;

I am exhausted with this heavy load.

My tired hands tremble,

And I stumble, stumble

Along the way.

Oh, lead with Thine unfailing arm

Again today.

Unless Thou lead me, Lord,

The road I journey on is all too hard.

Through trust in Thee alone

Can I go on.

Yet not for self alone

Thus do I groan;

My people’s sorrows are the load I bear.

Lord, hear my prayer—

May Thy strong hand

Strike off all chains

That load my well-loved land.

God, draw her close to Thee!

PENNILESS

Penniless….

A while

Without food

I can live;

But it breaks my heart

To know

I cannot give.

Penniless….

I can share my rags,

But I—

I cannot bear to hear

Starved children cry.

Penniless….

And rain falls,

But trust is true.

Helpless, I wait to see

What God will do.

ONE GARMENT LEFT

I have no one

To make a garment

For me;

Nor yet

A garment to be made.

My clothes

Are soiled,

And torn,

And tattered.

On the streets,

The people stare at me

Each time I leave the slums.

But those who clothe themselves

In borrowed garb

Are like a crow

Wearing a peacock’s feathers—

Fools!

As for myself,

Bare legs,

Short shirt,

Sweatband in brow,

I gird me up

To move the world!

And when

I wash

My one poor garment,

Stiff with filth,

Naked,

I wait

For it to dry.

Naked,

I kneel

Down at the crossing

In the mud,

To weep

And pray.

Stripped thus of all that Thou hast given me,

Lord, I would give again my all to Thee!