Carl Hamblin

 The press of the Spoon River Clarion was wrecked,
And I was tarred and feathered,
For publishing this on the day the Anarchists were hanged in Chicago:
"I saw a beautiful woman with bandaged eyes
Standing on the steps of a marble temple.

Great multitudes passed in front of her,
Lifting their faces to her imploringly.

In her left hand she held a sword.

She was brandishing the sword,
Sometimes striking a child, again a laborer,
Again a slinking woman, again a lunatic.

In her right hand she held a scale;
Into the scale pieces of gold were tossed
By those who dodged the strokes of the sword.

A man in a black gown read from a manuscript:
'She is no respecter of persons.
'
Then a youth wearing a red cap
Leaped to her side and snatched away the bandage.

And lo, the lashes had been eaten away
From the oozy eye-lids;
The eye-balls were seared with a milky mucus;
The madness of a dying soul
Was written on her face --
But the multitude saw why she wore the bandage.
"

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