“Let No One Harm Him!”

—William McKinley

“LET no one harm him!” gaspingly the words
Come from the lips, while the right hand upraised
Pleads for the life of him who seeks his own,
And saves it from destruction imminent!

O noble heart! forgetting its own wound,
While swift the murd’rous bullet speeds its way;
The nation’s head its honor still sustains,
And wards the blow that would avenge his wrong.

Carve them in stone! Those tender, earnest words,
Set them on high, that North and South may read
Where lynch-law with its tiger-fierceness binds
Its victim fast, with hideous, mocking shouts
Stifling the groans of writhing agony. [174][175]

Write them in gold, and let our children learn
In early years to curb the passions’ sway,
To rev’rence law and rev’rence him who wears
The country’s love deep-graven in his soul.

Send to the anarchist the glorious words;
Bid him remember, though the ruler fall,
The nation lives, and on its proudest page
Inscribes their names who for her glory die,
But under direst execration marks
The wretch who, feigning welcome, deals the blow
That sends a throb of anguish round the world.

September 9, 1901.