Page:When the Leaves Come Out (Chaplin 1917).pdf/28

 

Guerrero's dead! with radiant face he strode
 * Into the seething maelstrom of your hate,

And thronging thousands follow on the road
 * To feed or crush the beast insatiate.
 * For warriors die and glory in their fate
 * And laugh at Death—at Death the desolate.

Guerrero dead? His name is dazzling light!
 * For heroes slain are never heroes dead,

They live to guide their brothers in the fight,
 * And tyrants fear when armies thus are led.
 * So take those ghastly laurels from your head,
 * But see! Your hands are dripping, dripping red.

Guerrero lives! This man you cannot kill,
 * His deathless life illuminates the east,

His thousands quake your fastness on the hill;
 * Live on! Live on! nor stop the blood-stained feast,
 * A little longer live to learn at least
 * That Mexico wants MEN, and not a BEAST.

Chicago, Illinois,

January the 22nd, 1911

The name "Guerrero" means "warrior" in Spanish. Porfirio Diaz is remembered commonly as "la vieja bestia"—the old beast. 