de CLEYRE, Voltairine. "In Memoriam. To Gen. M. M. Trumbull." A Poem

Law. Death penaltyliterature: poetryHaymarket Square Tragedy (Chicago, Ill., USA, 1886)DE CLEYRE, Voltairine (1866-1912)

This poem, dedicated to General M. M. Trumbull, who defended the Chicago Martyrs in 1886, first appeared in Open Court 8 (1894) p.4158. It was later published in a collection of poems dedicated to the Haymarket events, but also to various people who were also condemned to death. See Voltairine de Cleyre, "The Worm Turns"

To General M. M. Trumbull
(No man better than General Trumbull defended my dead comrades in
Chicago.)



BACK to thy breast, 0 Mother, turns thy child,
He whom thou garmentedst in steel of truth,
And sent forth, strong in the glad heart of youth,
To sing the wakening song in ears beguiled
By tyrants’ promises and flatterers’ smiles;These searched his eyes, and knew nor threats nor
wiles,
Might shake the steady stars within their blue,
Nor win one truckling word from off those lips,-
No-not for gold nor praise, nor aught men do
To dash the Sun of Honor with eclipse.
0, Mother Liberty, those eyes are dark,
And the brave lips are white and cold and dumb;But fair in other Souls, through time to come,
Fanned by thy breath glows the Immortal Spark.

PHILADELPHIA, May, 1894.