Reading the Will

we have it, scratched and scored
 * By the tides of an impotent human soul;

He that wrote it died abhorred,
 * And scarcely the bell had ceased to toll

Ere they crowded together over the cake,
 * Ferret-eyed women and keen-faced men,

In the putrid well of his life to slake
 * Their viperous throats, and wonder when

The lawyer was coming to give their share&mdash;
 * Waiting like beasts behind the bars

For the meat apportioned,&mdash;and all the air
 * Thick with the hissing whisper that mars

Fame of the living and fame of the dead.
 * See that woman, her yellow teeth

Pressing the lip's thin line of red;
 * Mark the struggle that lies beneath

The outer surface of weepers and veils!
 * She was his housekeeper, people muttered

Hints, half-hinting, and half-heard tales,
 * Poison tipping each syllable uttered.

Charity, this! And the dead man lies
 * Still? Impossible! He must stir,

Slip the bandages, turn and rise,
 * Speak, refuting the blot on her!

There is no sign. Does he hear them say
 * She has it all, and "We know how

She wiled it from him, but let us stay
 * To hear the reading&mdash;it's coming now"?

Slowly, slowly, the red seals break.
 * Watch them, marking his ev'ry word&mdash;

How in life he had willed to make
 * This one wretched, and that preferred.

"I will and I choose that such a one
 * Should have my all!" O woe, O woe!

Human potency, what has it done
 * To help men's souls in the shades below?

Does he remember his power past,
 * How that he made men smile or weep,&mdash;

Helpless to hold his riches fast,
 * Fighting with blows men strike in sleep?