I, the scourge-wielder, balance-wrecker,Smiter with whips and swords;I, hater of the breakers of the law;I, legalist, inexorable and bitter,Driving the jury to hang the madman, Barry Holden,Was made as one dead by light too bright for eyes,And woke to face a Truth with bloody brow:Steel forceps fumbled by a doctor’s handAgainst my boy’s head as he entered lifeMade him an idiot. I turned to books of scienceTo care for him.That’s how the world of those whose minds are sickBecame my work in life, and all my world.Poor ruined boy! You were, at last, the potterAnd I and all my deeds of charityThe vessels of your hand.
Spoon River Anthology · Edgar Lee Masters