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 But tho' to him all flags are holy that men fight for

and death hallows,

He did not kiss it—I swear it by the one that shall wrap

my body.

He did not kiss it, and they trampled upon him in their

frenzy that had no retreat save the rope,

And to him who was ready to die for a light he would

never see shine, they said: "You are a coward",

To him who would not barter a meaningless word for

his life, they said: "You are a traitor",

And they drew the noose round his neck, and they pulled

him up to the trestle and they watched him until

he was dead,

Six masked men whose faces were eaten with the cancer

of the dark,

One for each Steeple of thy temple, O Labor.

V.

NOW HE IS dead, but now that he is dead is the door

of your dungeon faster, O money changers and

scribes, and priests and masters of slaves?

Are men now readier to die for you without asking the

wherefore of the slaughter?

Shall now the pent-up spirit no longer connive with the

sun against your midnight?

And are we now all reconciled to your rule, and are

you safer and we humbler, and is the night eternal

and the day forever blotted out of the skies,

And all blind yesterdays risen, and all tomorrows entombed,

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