Ah, white teeth chatter, And dumb jaws fall, While winged fires scatter Till gloom gulfs all Save the boom of the cannon that storm the forts That the people bombard with their comrades' hearts; "Vengeance! Vengeance!" the voices scream, And the vulture pinions whirl and stream! "Knife for knife, as ye long have dealt; The edge ye whetted for us be felt, Ye chopper of necks, on your own, your own! Bare it, Coward! On, Prophet, on!" Behold how high Rolls a prison cry! =Philadelphia,= August 1894. THE SUICIDE'S DEFENSE (Of all the stupidities wherewith the law-making power has signaled its own incapacity for dealing with the disorders of society, none appears so utterly stupid as the law which punishes an attempted suicide. To the question "What have you to say in your defense?" I conceive the poor wretch might reply as follows:) To say in my defense? Defense of what? Defense to whom? And why defense at all? Have I wronged any? Let that one accuse! Some priest there mutters I "have outraged God"! Let God then try me, and let none dare judge Himself as fit to put Heaven's ermine on! Again I say, let the wronged one accuse. Aye, silence! There is none to answer me. And whom could I, a homeless, friendless tramp, To whom all doors are shut, all hearts are locked, All hands withheld--whom could I wrong, indeed By taking that which benefited none And menaced all? Aye, since ye will it so, Know then your risk. But mark, 'tis not defense, 'Tis accusation that I hurl at you. See to't that ye prepare your own defense. My life, I say, is an eternal threat To you and yours; and therefore it were well To have foreborne your unasked services. And why? Because I hate you! Every drop Of blood that circles in your plethoric veins Was wrung from out the gaunt and sapless trunks Of men like me, who in your cursed mills Were crushed like grapes within the wine-press ground. To us ye leave the empty skin of life; The heart of it, the sweet of it, ye pour To fete your dogs and mistresses withal! Your mistresses! Our daughters! Bought, for bread, To grace the flesh that once was father's arms!