They feared us as we faced them undeterred,
And gave us each a coffin of a cell
In this steel cave where living corpses dwell--
Hate-throttled here that we might not be heard.

We are those fools too stubborn-willed to bend
Our necks to Wrong and parley and discuss.
Today we face the awful test of fire--
The prison, gallows, cross--but in the end
Your sons will call your children after us
And name their dogs from men you now admire!



BLOOD AND WINE

(A certain little renegade of the Revolution chants a
hymn of praise to his erstwhile enemy.)

Behold! The helots of the land
Are cowed beneath thy iron fist;
They are too dumb to understand--
Too tame and spineless to resist.

Victorious one! Against thy gains
These chattels cannot, dare not rise;
Stifle the thought within their brains
And rule . . . with bayonets and lies.

So may thy sons, with greed uncurbed,