Classic Poem

Speak! yellow men who grub for gold
In rocks & river-slime
What sight is this that I behold
Of crime avenging crime?

Without a motion to resist,
Her years yet scarcely ripe,—
A woman by the tender wrist
Griped in a strangling gripe!

And whither drags she, torn from hope,
At such a brutal march?
“—To yonder bridge, to yonder rope
“Above the midmost arch:

“For she has drawn her naked knife
“Against one of our own;
“She took a merry fellow's life,
“And she in turn shall groan.

“She shall have Law & Justice—she!
She shall be fairly used!—”
The Judge is Jury-wise, and he
Is foe to the accused.

Far up the town whose mushroom growth
Gloats in the golden beams,
A slouching throng of vice and sloth
In motley wrangle streams.

On to the bridge that seaward dips,
And from its curve descries
Old Europe in her gleaming ships
Rich with the western skies.

A grimy wretch pourtrays the hurt,
And flourishes the fact;
“—So dropt he in his bleeding shirt,
—So stood she in the act.”

A woman faithless to her sex,
A boy foregone in years,
Steept both in dross up to the necks,
Witness what he avers.

And some her yellow scarf point out,
And some her dark blue dress
Dasht with avenging drops—and shout
To make her doom confess.

“—Josepha, girl! what answerest thou?—”
She gnaws those lips so wan,
And levels round her close black brow
In scorn—“I kill'd the man!”

Her shining brow she levels mute,
And bites her thin white mouth,
And stamps her little passionate foot
In the old crimson wrath.

And crouching not mid the savage rush
Of rage, uplifts her face
All burning with its swarthy blush
And fierce-defying grace.

“—I kill'd him!”—and they check again
With much unwilling awe,
The rage that would have rendered vain
Their masking of the Law.

Then in the Judgment silence, spake
The voice of a young man;
“Beware what deeper Law you break
“In this dark Law you plan.

“I witnest too, and not too late
“Attest this deed, and swear
“That every woman in such strait,
“Were well to do like her!

“Ye who have wives and daughters! Ye
“To whom a home is all—
“To whom a hearth dishonour'd free,
“Would wrap earth in a pall;—

“I pray by you Christ's love! forgive
“This creature so forlorn,
“Whose crime is that she would not live
“Abased by her own scorn:

“Dishonour'd—yea, dishonour'd! prove
“Her life false, frail, unclean—
“She has the inviolate soul in love,
“All women cherish keen!

“She has the inviolate right in love,
“That sanctity to claim
“In which the purest women move,
“Angel-girt from shame!

“Shamed, shamed, and sinful as she is!—”
—But now with yell & scoff,
“Ho, ho! her paramour is this!”
They clamour, and hoot him off.

Then in the Ju[d]gment silence, spake
The voice of an old man:
“—Beware what holier Law you break,
“In this harsh Law you plan.

“The hand of God is on the girl,
“And Nature is her screen;
“She bears in her breast a living pearl,
“Quite spotless from her sin!

“She is a mother! men of flesh!
“Have mercy, and forbear!
“Have mercy, mercy! be not rash!
“Have mercy on her there!

“Let not the little life she feeds,
“Thus cease ere yet it wake:
“Let her in spite of her misdeeds,
“Be sacred for its sake.

“Look to her youth, she is so young!
“O men, with souls to save,
“Dare not to send a soul so young
“To her redeemless grave!

“Fathers! husbands!—she has none
“Upon this alien sod,—
“I say this thing shall not be done!
“'Tis murder, mocking God.

“I say this thing shall not be done!
“It is a double crime;
“The guilty and the innocent one
“Slaughter'd in solemn mime!

“I say this thing shall not be done!
“Twill taint the common air;
“'Twill be a brand upon the sun,
“A spectre of despair!

“A phantom of disgrace! for when
“The foul revenge is o'er,
“Like men to meet the eyes of men
“We can turn nevermore!

“O listen yet in time! disperse!
“Take Christ in your decree!
“Nor alienate the universe
“That marks us from the sea.”

And like that sea when thunders sound,
Or battle smoke rolls thick,
The threatening motion sinks around,
And hope of life beats quick.

And like that sea when roughened white
By some lone tossing sail
A moment's calm the calm starlight
Reveals in splendour pale.

Then in the human silence, rose
A shaggy Judge-elect:
Severely on the victim throws
His righteous gaze direct:

Uplifts his hands as tho' he drew
The black-cap from the pit:—
And more of all its horror knew
Than memory might admit.

“She has confest—she is condemn'd:
“I see no outlet here;
“She has confest—she is condemn'd:
Our course is very clear.”

He lifts his hands, as to his head
The blackcap he would fit;
And on her fear more terror fed
Than conscience might admit.

“—She is condemn'd—she has confest:
“No paltering, I say
“This one example checks the rest;
“Away with her, away!

“Or shall we for a woman's whim
“Be stabb'd and stuck at will?”
The subtle home-thrust gains for him
A most persuasive thrill.

“Or shall this Mexican brood have leave
“At once to kiss and kill?”
His practised eyes hereat perceive
A yet more wrathful thrill.

“Or shall we shrink to revenge the blood
“A girl can coolly spill?—”
They seize her in their madden'd mood,
Scarce held from instant ill.

They doom her to the scaffold near,
With bitter-coucht rebuke;
The babe leaps in her breast to hear,
But stedfast is her look.

Once only the old serpent shoots
Across her mouth and cheek;
Twisting to a curse the thoughts
No mortal tongue could speak:

Then smiling with her smiling lips
And dead unkindled eye,
All gracefully and firm she steps
Towards the swinging tie;

And grasps it tight as she would twit
Some object thro' the loop;
And with her fingers fondles it,
While she in prayer doth stoop.

While with her chin upon her chest
Huddled in prayer she kneels,
Covering with her black locks untrest,
Bare neck and naked heels.

Clothing with her long streaming locks
Her body bow'd, but bold,
Before those grovellers of the rocks
And their brute god of gold.