The appointed lot has come upon me, mother, The mournful ending of my years of strife, This changing world I leave, and to another In blood and terror goes my spirit's life. But thou, grief-smitten, cease thy mortal weeping And let thy soul her wonted peace regain; I fall for right, and thoughts of thee are sweeping Across my lyre to wake its dying strains. A strain of joy and gladness, free, unfailing All glorious and holy, pure, divine, And innocent, unconscious as the wailing I uttered on my birth; and I resign Even now, my life, even now descending slowly, Faith's mantle folds me to my slumbers holy. Mother, farewell! God keep thee--and forever! _Translated by William Cullen Bryant._ PLÁCIDO'S FAREWELL TO HIS MOTHER (_Written in the Chapel of the Hospital de Santa Cristina on the Night Before His Execution_) If the unfortunate fate engulfing me, The ending of my history of grief, The closing of my span of years so brief, Mother, should wake a single pang in thee, Weep not. No saddening thought to me devote; I calmly go to a death that is glory-filled, My lyre before it is forever stilled Breathes out to thee its last and dying note. A note scarce more than a burden-easing sigh, Tender and sacred, innocent, sincere-- Spontaneous and instinctive as the cry I gave at birth--And now the hour is here-- O God, thy mantle of mercy o'er my sins! Mother, farewell! The pilgrimage begins. _Translated by James Weldon Johnson_. BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX OF AUTHORS BOHANAN, OTTO LELAND. Born in Washington, D.C. Educated in the public schools in Washington. He is a graduate of Howard University, School of Liberal Arts, Washington, D.C., and did special work in English at the Catholic University in that city. At present he is engaged in the musical profession in New York. BRAITHWAITE, WILLIAM STANLEY. Born in Boston, 1878. Mainly self-educated. A critic of poetry and the friend of poets. Author of _Lyrics-of Life, The House of Falling Leaves, The Poetic Year, The Story of the Great War,_ etc. Editor and compiler of _The Book of Elizabethan Verse, The Book of Georgian Verse, The Book of Restoration Verse_ and a series of yearly anthologies of magazine verse. One of the literary editors of the Boston _Transcript_. BRAWLEY, BENJAMIN. Born at Columbia, S.C., 1882. Educated at the Atlanta Baptist College, the University of Chicago and Harvard University. For two years he was professor of English at Howard University, Washington, D.C. Later he became dean of Morehouse College, Atlanta, Ga. Author of _A Short History of the American Negro, The Negro in Literature and Art, A Short History of the English Drama, A Social History of the American Negro_, etc. Now living in Boston and engaged in research and writing.