"You Saw, Behind the Mask, the Fatal Grin"
You saw behind the mask, the fatal grin
Of the old Ku-Klux skull! But too late
The mask slips off, & naked to the day,
The wrath of Freedom in her own calm way
Shall crush the spectre with an empire’s weight!
Count out a people’s ballot, & defy
All visible powers below & Power on high,
But know ye, Robbers, while your paeans begin
God will be counted in!
The grand forbearance of a people great
Has saved a nation while it saves a State;
But you, dishonoring of a noble name
Descent to swift oblivion or long shame!
The indignant virtue of a people, slow
To holy wrath shall burn with white glow
And smite your power to ashes; not alone
Under our gallant Pine Tree, & the zone
Of Freedom’s watch-fire, stars that never set, -
But over all the land where yet
Secrecy woos the Assassin, & red gold
Caresses Murder – “Fusion” of Fraud & Force,
The twin Conspirators
That seek a realm to plunder & to hold!
- Title
- "You Saw, Behind the Mask, the Fatal Grin"
- Type
- Poem
- Creator
-
George Shepard Burleigh
- Date
- 1880
- January 22, 1880
- Alternative Title
- "You Saw, Behind the Mask, the Fatal Grin"
- Subject
- Reconstruction
- Racism
- Black Civil Rights
- note
- This poem appears to be a draft of a reaction to a political event in early 1880. It is in manuscript copy only
- Bibliographic Citation
- In the Loose Materials in Poems by George and Ruth Burleigh, held by Little Compton Historical Society, Box A47.24