(Nicola Sacco — Bartolomeo Vanzetti)
Executed August 23, 1927
I
As men have loved their lovers in times past
And sung their wit, their virtue and their grace,
So have we loved sweet Justice to the last,
That now lies here in an unseemly place.
The child will quit the cradle and grow wise
And stare on beauty till his senses drown;
Yet shall be seen no more by mortal eyes
Such beauty as here walked and here went down.
Like birds that hear the winter crying plain
Her courtiers leave to seek the clement south;
Many have praised her, we alone remain
To break a fist against the lying mouth
Of any man who says this was not so:
Though she be dead now, as indeed we know.
II
Where can the heart be hidden in the ground
And be at peace, and be at peace forever,
Under the world, untroubled by the sound
Of mortal tears, that cease from pouring never?
Well for the heart, by stern compassion harried,
If death be deeper than the churchmen say, —
Gone from this world indeed what’s graveward carried,
And laid to rest indeed what’s laid away.
Anguish enough while yet the indignant breather
Have blood to spurt upon the oppressor’s hand;
Who would eternal be, and hang in ether
A stuffless ghost above his struggling land,
Retching in vain to render up the groan
That is not there, being aching dust’s alone?
(Edna St. Vincent Millay)
More Poetry from Edna St. Vincent Millay:
Edna St. Vincent Millay Poems based on Topics: Man, Beauty, Place, World, Sadness, Winter, War & Peace, Wit- [Four Sonnets (1922)] (Edna St. Vincent Millay Poems)
- Bluebeard (Edna St. Vincent Millay Poems)
- Renascence (Edna St. Vincent Millay Poems)
- Ode To Silence (Edna St. Vincent Millay Poems)
- Interim (Edna St. Vincent Millay Poems)
- The Suicide (Edna St. Vincent Millay Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Man Poems, World Poems, Sadness Poems, War & Peace Poems, Place Poems, Beauty Poems, Winter Poems, Wit PoemsBased on Keywords: untroubled, indignant, unseemly, clement, oppressor, harried, courtiers, spurt, churchmen, breather, executed