All Life in a Life
With secrets profound no plummet line
Can altogether sound it.
It means growth
Of soul by watching,
And the creation of eyes
Over your mind's eyes to supervise
A clear activity and to ward off sloth.
What he had in mind was scotching
And killing the snake of Hatred, and stripping the glove
From the hand of Hypocrisy, and quenching the fire
Of falsehood and unbrotherly Desire.
What he had in mind was simply Love.
But he was prosecuted
As a rebel, and as a rebel executed—
Right in a public place where all could see.
And his mother watched him hang for the felony.
He hated to die, being but thirty-three,
And fearing that his poems might be lost.
And certain members of the Bar Association,
And of the Civic Federation,
And of the League of Public Efficiency,
And a legion
Of men devoted to religion,
With policemen, soldiers, roughs,
Loose women, thieves and toughs,
Came out to see him die
And hooted at him, giving up the ghost
In great despair and with a fearful cry!
[299]
