The Battle With Grendel

from Beowulf
translated by Burton Raffel
Epic 4

Out from the marsh,from the foot of misty

Hills and bogs,bearing God's hatred,
Grendel came,hoping to kill
395Anyone he could trap on this trip to high Herot.
He moved quickly through the cloudy night,
Up from his swampland,sliding silently
Toward that gold-shining hall. He had visited Hrothgar's
Home before,knew the way-
400But never, before nor after that night,
Found Herot defended so firmly, his reception
So harsh. He journeyed,forever joyless,
Straight to the door,then snapped it open,
Tore its iron fasteners with a touch
405And rushed angrily over the threshold.
He strode quickly across the inlaid
Floor,snarling and fierce: His eyes
Gleamed in the darkness, burned with a gruesome

34
 Light. Then he stopped, seeing the hall
410Crowded with sleeping warriors,stuffed
With rows of young soldiers resting together.
And his heart laughed,he relished the sight,
Intended to tear the life from those bodies
By morning; the monster's mind was hot

34
415 With the thought of food and the feasting his belly
Would soon know. But fate, that night,intended Grendel
to gnaw the broken bones Of his last human supper.
Human Eyes were watching his evil steps,
420 Waiting to see his swift hard claws.Grendel
snatched at the first Geat He came to,ripped him
apart,cut His body to bits with powerful
jaws,Drank the blood from his veins, and boIted
425 Him down, hands and feet;death And Grendel's
great teeth came together,Snapping life shut. Then he
stepped to another Still body,clutched at Beowulf with
his claws,Grasped at a strong-hearted wakeful sleeper
430 -And was instantly seized himself,claws Bent
back as Beowulf leaned up on one arm.That
shepherd of evil,guardian of crime,Knew at once
that nowhere on earth Had he met a man whose
hands were harder;
435 His mind was flooded with fear-but nothing Could take his
talons and himself from that tight Hard grip. Grendel's one
thought was to run From Beowulf,flee back to his marsh and
hide there:This was a different Herot than the hall he had
emptied.
440But Higlac's follower remembered his final Boast
and,standing erect,stopped The monster's
flight,fastened those claws In his fists till they
cracked, clutched Grendel Closer. The infamous
killer fought
445 For his freedom,wanting no flesh but retreat,Desiring
nothing but escape; his claws Had been caught, he was
trapped. That tripto Herot Was a miserable journey for the
writhing monster!The high hall rang, its roof boards swayed,
375
 YOUR TEXT
Driving Miss Daisy
by Alfred Uhry (Excerpt)

Cast of Characters
Daisy Werthan-a widow
Hoke Coleburn-her chauffeur
Boolie Werthan-her son

In the dark we hear a car ignition turn on, and then a horrible crash.Bangs an
and wood splintering. When the noise is very loud,it stops suddenly and the lig
up on Daisy Werthan's living room, or a portion thereof. Daisy, age 72, is wearin
SCENE mer dress and high heeled shoes. Her hair, her clothes, her walk,everything a
suggests bristle and feist and high energy.She appears to be in excellent health
Boolie Werthan,40,is a businessman, Junior Chamber ofCommerce style. He has
capable air. The Werthans are Jewish, but they have strong Atlanta accents.

375
376
DAISY: No!
BOOLIE:Mama!

DAISY: No!

BOOLIE:Mama!

DAISY: I said no, Boolie,and that's the end of it.

BOOLIE:It's a miracle you're not laying in Enory Hospital-or decked out at the funeral
home. Look at you! You didn't even break your glasses.

DAISY: It was the car's fault.

BOOLIE:Mama, the car didn't just back over the driveway and land on the Pollard's
garage all by itself. You had it in the wrong gear.

DAISY: I did not!

BOOLIE:You put it in reverse instead of drive. The police report shows that.

DAISY: You should have let me keep my La Salle.

BOOLIE:Your La Salle was eight years old.

DAISY: I don't care. It never would have behaved this way. And you know it.

BOOLIE:Mama, cars, don't behave. They are behaved upon. The fact is you,all by
yourself,demolished that Packard.

DAISY: Think what you want. I know the truth.

BOOLIE:The truth is you shouldn't be allowed to drive a car any more.

DAISY: No.

BOOLIE:Mama, we are just going to have to hire somebody to drive you.

DAISY: No,we are not. This is my business.

BOOLIE:Your insurance policy is written so that they are going to have to give you
a brand new car.

DAISY: Not another Packard. I hope.

BOOLIE:Lord Almighty! Don't you see what I'm saying?

DAISY: Quit talking so ugly to yourmother.

BOOLIE:Mama,you are seventy-two years old and you just cost the insurance
company twenty-seven hundred dollars. You are a terrible risk. No-body is going
to issue you a policy after this.

376
DAISY: You're just saying that to be hateful.

BOOLIE:O.k. Yes. Yes I am. I'm making it all up. Every insurance company in America
is lined up in the driveway waving their fountain pens and falling all over
themselves to get you to sign on. Everybody wants

376
377
 Daisy Werthan, the only woman in the history of driving to demolish a
three week old Packard, a two car garage and a free standing tool shed
in one fell swoop!
DAISY: You talk so foolish sometimes, Boolie.
BOOLIE: And even if you could get a policy somewhere, it wouldn't be safe.
I'd worry all the time. Look at how many of your friends have men
to drive them. Miss Ida Jacobs, Miss Ethel Hess,Aunt Nonie-
DAISY: They're
Daddyallleft
rich.you plenty enough for this. I'll do the interviewing at the plant. Osca
BOOLIE: freight elevator knows every colored man in At-lanta worth talking about. I'm
two weeks time I can find you somebody perfectly-

DAISY: No!
No. Now stop running your mouth! I am seventy-two years old as you g
BOOLIE: You won't even have to do anything, Mama. I told you. I'll do
reminded me and I am a widow, bt unless they rewrote the Constitution and
all
tellthe
me,interviewing,all the reference
I still have rights. checking,all
And one of the-
my rights is the right to invite who I w
DAISY: who you want-into my house.You do accept the fact that this is my house? W
not want-and absolutely will not have is some- (She gropes for a bad enough
some chauffeur sitting in my kitchen, gobbling my food,running up my phone
I hate all that in my house!

Idella is different. She's been coming to me three times a week since you were
eighth grade and we know how to stay out of each other's way. And even so th
nicks and chips in most of my wedding china and I've seen her throw silver fork
garbage more than once.

BOOLIE:You have Idella.

DAISY: Stop being sassy. You know what I mean. I was brought up to do myself. On F
Street we couldn't afford them and we did for ourselves. That's still the best
you ask me.

377
BOOLIE: Do you think Idella has a vendettazagainst your silverware?
DAISY:

BOOLIE:Them! You sound like Governor Talmadge.

DAISY: Why,Boolie! What a thing to say! I'm not prejudiced!
Aren't you ashamed?

377
378
 BOOLIE: I've got to go home. Florine'll be having a fit.

DAISY: Y'all must have plans tonight.

BOOLIE:Going to the Ansleys for a dinner party.
DAISY: I see.
BOOLIE:You see what?
DAISY: The Ansleys. I'm sure Florine bought another new dress. This is her
idea of heaven on earth,isn't it?
BOOLIE:What?
DAISY: Socializing with Episcopalians.
BOOLIE:You're a doodle, Mama. I guess Aunt Nonie can run you anywhere
you need to go for the time being.
DAISY: I'll be fine.
BOOLIE:I'll stop by tomorrow evening.
DAISY: How do you know I'll be here? I'm certainly not dependent on you
for company.
BOOLIE: Fine. I'll call first. And I still intend to interview colored men.
DAISY: No!
BOOLIE: Mama!
DAISY: (singing to end discussion) After the ball is over
After the break of morn
After the dancers leaving
After the stars are gone
Many a heart is achin
If you could read them all -
(Lights fade on her as she sings and come up on Bollie at his desk at the Werthan

Company. He sits at a desk piled with papers, and speaks into an intercom.)

BOOLIE: Ok,Miss McClatchey. Send him on in. (He continues working at his
desk. Hoke Coleburn enters, a black man ofabout 60, dressed in a
somewhat shiny suit and carrying a fedora, a man clearly down on his luck
but anxious to keep up appearances.) Yes, Hoke, isn't it?

378
HOKE: Yassuh.Hoke Coleburn.
BOOLIE:Have a seat there. I've got to sign these letters. I don't want Miss
McClatchey fussing at me.
HOKE: Keep right on with it. I got all the time in the worl'.
BOOLIE:I see. How long you been out of work?

378
380
 BOOLIE:You drove for Judge Stone?
Seven years to the day nearabout. An' I be there still if he din'die,and Miz Stone
HOKE:
to close up the house and move to her people in Savannah. And she say "C
down to Savannah wid'me, Hoke."Cause my wife dead by then and I say " N
you." I didn't want to leave my grandbabies andI don'get along with that G
trash they got down there.

You doan' mean! Oscar say you need a driver for yo'family.What I be doin'?
yo children to school and yo'wife to the beauty parlor and like dat?
BOOLIE: Judge Stone was a friend of my father's.
HOKE:

BOOLIE: I don't have any children. But tell me-

HOKE: Thass'a shame! My daughter bes' thing ever happen to me.
But you young yet. I wouldn't worry none.
BOOLIE: I won't. Thank you. Did you have a job after Judge Stone?
HOKE: I drove a milk truck for the Avondale Dairy thru the whole
war-the one jes' was.
BOOLIE: Hoke,what I am looking for is somebody to drive my mother around.
Oh no.Nothing like that. She's all there. Too much there is the prob-lem. It ju
HOKE: safeme
Excuse for for
heraskin',
to drive
butany
howmore.
comeShe
sheknows it, but
ain' hire she won't admit it. I'll be fran
fo' herself?
you. I'm a little desperate.
BOOLIE: Well,it's a delicate situation.
I know what you mean 'bout dat. Once I was outta work my wife said to me "O
HOKE: Mmmm Hmm. She done gone 'roun' the bend a little?
Hoke,you ain' gon get noun nother job." And I say "What you talkin'bout, wo
That'll happen when they get on.
And the very next week I go to work for that woman in Little Five Points. Cah
BOOLIE: Frances Cahill.And then I go to Judge Stone and they the reason I happy to he
Jews.

Hoke,I want you to understand, my mother is a little high-strung.She doesn'

HOKE: anybody driving her. But the fact is you'd be working for me,She can say anythi
likes but she can't fire for you. You understand?

380
BOOLIE:

380
381
HOKE: Sho'I do. Don't worry none about it. I hold on no matter what way she run me. When
but alittle boy down there on the farm above Macon, I use to wrastle hogs to the g
killin'time, and ain' no hog get away from me yet.

Soun' like you got yo' Mama a chauffeur. (Lights fade on them and come up on Da
BOOLIE: How does twenty dollars a week sound?
enters her living room with the morning paper. She reads with interest. Hoke enters t
HOKE: room. He carries a chauffeur's cap instead ofhis hat. Daisy's concentration on th
becomes fierce when she senses Hoke's presence.) Mornin',Miz Daisy.

DAISY: Good morning.

HOKE: Right cool in the night,wadn't it?

DAISY: I wouldn't know. I was asleep.

HOKE: Yassum. What yo plans today?

DAISY: That's my business.

HOKE: You right about dat. Idella say we runnin' outa coffee and Dutch
Cleanser.
DAISY: We?
HOKE: She say we low on silver polish too.
DAISY: Thank you. I will go to the Piggly Wiggly on the trolley this afternoon.

HOKE: Yassum.You
Now,Miz got acome
Daisy,how nice place back beyond
you doan'let the garage
me carry you? ain'doin'nothin'but sittin' there
put you in some butterbeans and some to-matoes and even some Irish potatoes c
DAISY: No,thank you.
get some ones with good eyes.
HOKE: Aint dat what Mist' Werthan hire me for?
DAISY: That's his problem.
HOKE: All right den. I find something to do. I tend yo zinnias.
DAISY: Leave my flower bed alone.

381
HOKE:

DAISY: If I want a vegetable garden. I'll plant it for myself.

HOKE: Well, I go out and set in the kitchen, then, like I been doin'all week.

DAISY: Don't talk to Idella. She has work to do.

381
382
 HOKE: Nome,I jes sit there till five o'clock.
DAISY: That's your affair.
Seem a shame, do. That fine Oldsmobile settin out there in the ga-rage. Ain't m
HOKE: inch from when Mist' Werthan rode it over here from Mitchell Motors. On
nineteen miles on it. Seem like that insurance company give you a whole new
nothin'.

Yassum.And my other opinion is a fine rich Jewish lady like you doan b'long d
DAISY: That's yoursteps
up the opinion.
of no bus, luggin' no grocery store bags.I come along and carry
HOKE: fo'you.

DAISY: I don't need you. I don't want you. And I don't like you
saying I'm rich.
HOKE: I won't say it,then.
DAISY: Is that what you and Idella talk about in the kitchen? Oh,I hate
this!I hate being discussed behind my back in my own house!I was
born on Forsyth Street and, believe me, I knew the value of penny. My
brother Manny brought homne a white cat one day and Papa said we
couldn't keep it because we couldn't afford to feed it. My sisters saved
up money so I could go to school and be a teacher. We didn't have
anything!
HOKE: Yassum,but look like you doin'all right now.
DAISY: And I've ridden the trolley with groceries plenty of times!
HOKE: Yassum,but I feel bad takin' Mist'Werthan's money for doin'
nothin'.You understand? (She cut him off in the speech.)
DAISY: How much does he pay you?
HOKE: That between me and him,Miz Daisy.
DAISY: Anything over seven dollars a week is robbery. Highway robbery!
HOKE: Specially when I doan do nothin' but sit on a stool in the kitchen
all day long. Tell you what, while you goin on the trolley to the Piggly
Wiggly, I hose down yo' front steps.(Daisy is putting on her hat.)
DAISY: All right.
HOKE: All right I hose yo steps?
382
DAISY: All right the Piggly Wiggly. And then home. Nowhere else.

HOKE: Yassum.
DAISY: Wait.You don't know how to run the Oldsmobile!

382
384
 DAISY: I know where it isand I want to go to it the way I always go.
On Highland Avenue.
HOKE: That three blocks out of the way, Miz Daisy.
DAISY: Go back! Go back this minute!
HOKE: We in the wrong lane! I cain'jes-
DAISY:Go back I said! If you don't, I'll get out of this car and walk!

HOKE: We movin'! You cain' open the do'!

DAISY: This is wrong! Where are you taking me?
HOKE: The sto'.
DAISY: This is wrong. You have to go back to Highland Avenue!
I've been driving to the Piggly Wiggly since the day they put it up and opened
HOKE: Mmmm Hmmmm.
business. This isn't the way! Go back! Go back this minute!
DAISY:

HOKE: Yonder the Piggly Wiggly.

DAISY: Get ready to turn now.
HOKE: Yassum
DAISY: Look out! There's a little boy behind that shopping cart!
HOKE: I see dat.
DAISY: Pull in next to the blue car.
HOKE: We closer to the do'right here.
DAISY: Next to the blue car! I don't park in the sun! It fades the upholstery.

HOKE: Yassum. (He pulls in, and gets out as Daisy springs out of the
back seat.)
DAISY: Nome.Don'forget
Wait a minute. Give methethe
Dutch Cleanser now. (She fixes him with a look meant t
car keys.
and exits. Hoke waits by the car for a minute, then hurries to the phone booth a
HOKE: Yassum.
corner.) Hello? Miz McClatchey?Hoke Coleburn here. Can I speak to him? (pa
Mornin sir, Mist'Werthan. Guess where I'm at? I'm at dishere phone booth on E
DAISY:
AvenueStay right
right nexthere by the
to the car.Wiggly.
Piggly And you don't
I jes have
drove yo'toMama
tell everybody
to the
my business.

384
HOKE:

384
385
 market. (pause) She flap a little on the way. But she all right. She in the
store. Uh oh, Miz Daisy look out the store window and doan'see me,she
liable to throw a fit right there by the checkout.(pause)Yassuh,only took
six days. Same time it take the Lawd to make the worl'.(Lights out on
him. We hear a choir singing.)
CHOIR
May the words of my mouth
And the meditations of my heart
Be acceptable in Thy sight,O Lord
My strength and my redeemer, Amen.
(Light up on Hoke waiting by the car, looking at a newspaper.Daisy
enters in a different hat and a fur piece.)
HOKE: How yo'Temple this mornin', Miz Daisy?
DAISY: Why are you here?
HOKE: I bring you to de Temple like you tell me. (Hle is helping her
into the car.)
DAISY: I can get myself in. Just go. (She makes a tight little social
smile and a wave out the window.) Hurry up out of here! (Hoke starts
up the car.)
HOKE: Yassum.
DAISY: I didn't say speed. I said get me away from here.
HOKE: Somethin'wrong back yonder?
DAISY: No.
HOKE: Somethin'I done?
DAISY: No.(a beat) Yes.
HOKE: You hadnothin'!
I ain'done the car right in front of the front door of the Temple! Like I was Qu
Romania! Everybody saw you! Didn't I tell you to wait for me in the back?
DAISY:

HOKE: I jes trying' to be nice. They two other chauffeurs right behindme.
DAISY: You made me look like a fool.A g.d.fool!
385
HOKE: Lawd knows you ain' no fool, Miz Daisy.
DAISY: Slow down.Miriam and Beulah and them,I could see what they
were thinking when we came out of services.

385
387
DAISY: The silverware first and the linen dinner napkins and then I went into the pantry.
on the light and the first thing that caught my eye was a hole behind the corn
And I knew right away.There were only eight cans of salmon. I had nine. Three for
on sale.

Very clever, Mama. You made me miss my breakfast and be late for a meeting at t
for a thirty-three cent can of salmon. (He jams his hand in his pocket and pulls o
bills.) Here! You want thirty-three cents? Here's a dollar! Here's ten dollars! Buy
BOOLIE: full of salmon!

It was mine. I bought it and I put it there and he went into my pan-try and took i
never said a word. I leave him plenty of food everyday and I always tell him exac
DAISY:
it is. They Why,Boolie! Thelittle
are like having idea! Wavinginmoney
children at meThey
the house. like Iwant
don'tsomething
know so t
what!I
take it.don't
Not want the money.
a smidgin I wantNo
of manners. my conscience.
things! He'll never admit this."Nom
say,"I doan know nothin' bout that." And I don't like it! I don't like living this wa
BOOLIE: One can of salmon?
no privacy.
DAISY:

All right. I give up. You want to drive yourself again,you just go ahead and arran
the insurance company. Take your blessed trolley.Buy yourself a taxicab. Anyth
want. Just leave me out ofit.

BOOLIE: Mama!
DAISY: Go ahead.Defend him. You always do.
Jes'a minute. Lemme put my coat away. I be right back. (He pulls a brown paper
BOOLIE: of his overcoat.) Oh.,Miz Daisy.Yestiddy when you out with yo sister I ate a ca
salmon. I know you say eat the leff over pork chops, but they stiff. Here,I done
another can. You want me to put it in the pantry fo'you?

DAISY: Boolie... (Hoke enters in an overcoat)

HOKE: Mornin, Miz daisy. I b'leve it fixin' to clear up. S'cuse me, I didn't
387
know you was here Mist' Werthan.
BOOLIE: Hoke,I think we have to have a talk.
HOKE:

DAISY: Yes. Thank you, Hoke.

HOKE: I'll be right wit you Mist' Wertham. (Hoke exits.Daisy looks at the

387
386
 HOKE: What that?
DAISY: That I'm trying to pretend I'm rich.
HOKE: You is rich,Miz Daisy!
No I'm not! And nobody can ever say I put on airs.On Forsyth Street we only had m
DAISY:
once a week. We made a meal off of grits and1 gravy,I taught the fifth grade at t
Crew Street School! I did without plenty of times. I can tell you.

HOKE: And now you doin' with. What so terrible in that?

DAISY: You! Why do I talk to you? You don't understand me.
HOKE: Nome, I don't. I truly don't. Cause if I ever was to get ahold of
what you got I be shakin it around for everybody in the world to see.
Miz Daisy,you
DAISY: need
That's a chauffeur
vulgars. Don't and
talk Lawd
to me!know,
(HokeI need a job.something
mutters Let's jes leave it at d
(Light out
under on themWhat?
his breath,) and upWhat
on Boolie,
did youin say?
his shirt-sleeves.
I heard that!He has a phone to his ear.)
HOKE:
Good morning, Mama. What's the matter? (pause) What? Mama,you're talking so fa
I... What? All right.All right.I'll come by on my way to work. I'll be there as soon as I ca
(Light out on him and up on Daisy,pacing around her house in a winter bathrobe. Boo
enters in a topcoat and scarf.) I didn't expect to find you in one piece.

BOOLIE:

DAISY: I wanted you to be here when he comes. I wanted you to hear

it for yourself.
This! (She triumphantly pulls an empty can of salmon out of her robe pocket.) I caug
BOOLIE: Hear what? What's going on?
him red handed! I found this hidden in the garbage pail under some coffee grounds.
DAISY: He's stealing from me!
BOOLIE: Hoke? Are you sure?
DAISY: I don't make empty accusations. I have proof!
BOOLIE: What proof?

386
DAISY:

BOOLIE: You mean he stole a can of salmon?

DAISY: Here it is! Oh I knew. I knew something was funny. They alltake
things,you know. So I counted.
BOOLIE:You counted?

386
388
 empty can in her hand.)
DAISY: (trying for dignity) I've got to get dressed now. Goodbye, son.(She pecks his chee
exits. Lights out on him. We hear sounds ofbirds twittering. Lights come up brightl
sun. Daisy, in light dress,is kneeling, a trowel in her hand,working by a graves
Hoke,jacket in hand, sleeves rolled up, stands nearby.)

HOKE: I jess thinkin', Miz Daisy. We bin out heah to the cemetery
three times dis mont already and ain' even the twentieth yet.
DAISY: It's good to come in nice weather.
HOKE: Yassum. Mist' Sig's grave mighty well tended.I b'leve you the
best widow in the state of Georgia.
DAISY: Boolie's always pestering me to let the staff out here tend to
this plot.Perpetual care they call it.
HOKE: Doan'you do it. It right to have somebody from the family lookin'after you.

DAISY: I'll certainly never have that. Boolie will have me in perpetual
care before I'm cold.
HOKE: Come on now, Miz Daisy.
DAISY: Hoke,run back to the car and get that pot of azaleas for me and
set it on Leo Bauer's grave.
HOKE: Miz Rose Bauer's husband?
DAISY: That's right. She asked me to bring it out here for her. She's
notvery good about coming. And I believe today would've been Leo's
birthday.
HOKE: Yassum.Where the grave at?
DAISY: I'm not exactly sure. But I know it's over that way on the other
side of the weeping cherry.You'll see the headstone.Bauer.
HOKE: Yassum.
DAISY: What's the matter?
HOKE: Nothin' the matter. (He exits. She works with her trowel. In a mo-
ment Hoke returns with flowers.) Miz Daisy...

DAISY: I told you it's over on the other side of the weeping cherry. It says
Bauer on the headstone.
388
HOKE: How'd that look?
DAISY: What are you talking about?
HOKE: (deeply embarrassed) I'm talkin' bout I cain'read.

388
HOKE: I'preciate this,Miz Daisy.
DAISY: Don't be ridiculous! I didn't do anything.Now would you please
hurry up? I'm burning up out here.

Source:Best Plays Middle Level by Thomas, Brandon, Susan Glaspell

Contemporary Publishing Group Incorporated, 1998

Discussion Guides

1. Who is Daisy? How old is she?

2. WVhat event led her to have a personal driver?
3. Who is Hoke? What did you observe about his personality and the manne of
his speaking?
135
 The Man with the Hoe
by Edwin Markham

Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans Upon his

hoe and gazes on the ground,The emptiness of ages in
his face,And on his back the burden of the world.Who
made him dead to rapture and despair,A thing that
grieves not and that never hopes,Stolid and stunned,
a brother to the ox?Who loosened and let down this
brutal jaw?Whose was the hand that slanted back this
brow?Whose breath blew out the light within this
brain?

Is this the Thing the Lord God made and gave

To have dominion over sea and land;
To trace the stars and search the heavens for power;To
feel the passion of Eternity?
Is this the Dream He dreamed who shaped the suns And
marked their ways upon the ancient deep?
Down all the stretch of Hell to its last gulf
There is no shape more terrible than this-
More tongued with censure of the world's blind greed-

More filled with signs and portents for the soul-

135
More fraught with danger to the universe.
What gulfs between him and the seraphim!

135
Slave of the wheel of labor, what to him

Are Plato and the swing of Pleiades?

What the long reaches of the peaks of song,

The rift of dawn, the reddening of the rose?

Through this dread shape the suffering ages look;

Time's tragedy is in that aching stoop;

Through thisdread shape humanity betrayed,

Plundered,profaned and disinherited,

Cries protest to the Judges of the World,

A protest that is also prophecy.

O masters, lords and rulers in all lands,

is this the handiwork you give to God,

This monstrous thing distorted and soul-quenched?

How will you ever straighten up this shape;

Touch it again with immortality;

Give back the upward looking and the light;

Rebuild in it the music and the dream;

Make right the immemorial infamies,

Perfidious wrongs,immedicable woes?

O masters, lords and rulers in all lands,

How will the Future reckon with this Man?

How answer his brute question in that hour

When whirlwinds of rebellion shake the world?

How will it be with kingdoms and with kings-

With those who shaped him to the thing he is-

When this dumb Terror shall reply to God

After the silence of the centuries?