The press of the Spoon River Clarion was wrecked, <br />And I was tarred and feathered, <br />For publishing this on the day the Anarchists were hanged in Chicago: <br />"I saw a beautiful woman with bandaged eyes <br />Standing on the steps of a marble temple. <br />Great multitudes passed in front of her, <br />Lifting their faces to her imploringly. <br />In her left hand she held a sword. <br />She was brandishing the sword, <br />Sometimes striking a child, again a laborer, <br />Again a slinking woman, again a lunatic. <br />In her right hand she held a scale; <br />Into the scale pieces of gold were tossed <br />By those who dodged the strokes of the sword. <br />A man in a black gown read from a manuscript: <br />'She is no respecter of persons.' <br />Then a youth wearing a red cap <br />Leaped to her side and snatched away the bandage. <br />And lo, the lashes had been eaten away <br />From the oozy eye-lids; <br />The eye-balls were seared with a milky mucus; <br />The madness of a dying soul <br />Was written on her face -- <br />But the multitude saw why she wore the bandage."<br /><br />Edgar Lee Masters<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/carl-hamblin/
