The Calumniator
“He, pierced by such shafts of slander, died soon after.”
WHAT world-wide search doth mighty Justice make
To bring the slain his unknown murderer !
Hither and thither speeds a messenger
To earth’s four points, for her imperial sake.
And are there some she cannot overtake ?
They who elude the chain elude not her;
For such, the flame-bound Furies hotly spur,
And make their every thought a hissing snake.
But ah ! will Justice never punish so
The ambushed slayer of a man’s good name,
Plunging his tongue, yea, to the very hilt,
In its fair virtue, till the heart-blood flow?
Ay ! true as Justice lives, this killing shame
Must pay the price of homicidal guilt!
To bring the slain his unknown murderer !
Hither and thither speeds a messenger
To earth’s four points, for her imperial sake.
And are there some she cannot overtake ?
They who elude the chain elude not her;
For such, the flame-bound Furies hotly spur,
And make their every thought a hissing snake.
But ah ! will Justice never punish so
The ambushed slayer of a man’s good name,
Plunging his tongue, yea, to the very hilt,
In its fair virtue, till the heart-blood flow?
Ay ! true as Justice lives, this killing shame
Must pay the price of homicidal guilt!
Charlotte Fiske Bates.