Histrionics by Lola Ridge

–Albert Parsons*
went to his death
singing Annie Laurie;
didn’t another have
a rose in his coat–
or was it a pink–
dramatizing himself–

Blooded rose
stalk
hanging out of an empty
coat lapel,
or was it a pink carnation
rose color soft as sunrise
glimmering upon a gallows,
and streak of silver song
ravelled with the rain
on a filthy Chicago morning in the Eighties–
you shall outlast horizons.

*Albert Parsons (1848-1887), known as one of the Haymarket Martyrs, was convicted of conspiracy following an attack on police in Chicago on 4 May 1886. He was the editor of a weekly anarchist newspaper and a strong supporter of the 8-hour day. He was executed by hanging on 11 November 1887.

From: http://www.marxists.org/subject/women/poetry/histrionics.html

Date: 1926

By: Lola Ridge (1873-1941)