nothing but the act of war,
And victory coming down, Victory, Victory!
'Twas I that saved them! Yes, 'twas I that saved you--
Ye little wranglers with the name of war!
I beat Burgoyne, I saved the continent,
The Continental Army and the Cause,
Washington, Congress, and the whole of you,
I saved ye,--saved ye,--and I had for it--
It chokes me still to say it--had for it--
It wakes me in the night with leaping hatred,--
Out of my bed I leap to think of it,--
Hitting me in my sleep the poison comes
And fangs my heart.--I had a _Reprimand_!
I, reprimanded by a sorry crew
Of politicians--I, I, I----!
Thus, in my heart for sixteen months of hurt,
Burns the injustice, clamors the revenge.
No, no revenge! but justice,
Nothing but justice--I'll have justice!

_Both Choruses_. Foolish is the man who thinks upon his wrongs though
they be great. The sting is in him; the poison is in himself.

Lo, he accuses others, and the deed of his death is done with his own
hand.

_Father Hudson_. What is the man disturbed about, my children?

_Leader of Men_. He is a hero and a battle-god:
The spoils and the rewards he justly won,
Others have seized, and left his haughty heart
A withered laurel.

_Father Hudson_. Surely it was wrong;
The hero should receive the hero's meed.

_Leader of Men_. The gods that made him hero had left out
The drop of meekness which preserves the rest
From self-destruction.

_Father Hudson_. Will he kill himself?

_Leader of Men_. More than a suicide.--
A living death
Takes up its habitation in his heart.

_Father Hudson_. Little I understand, but greatly pity.
You, who have mastered all philosophy,
Can surely soothe him.

_Leader of Men_. None can reach the man.
He is beyond the boundaries of speech,
And goes the paths of blindness.
Would'st thou, O Father, see the invisible,
And know what agitates your placid mind?

_Father Hudson_. Show me: I can receive it.

[_The following Invocation is sung by the_ Leader of the Women _in a
clear contralto voice._]

_Leader of Women_. Spirit of the unseen habitation,
Walking distress,
Blighting presence, Nemesis, Evil,
Good-in-Darkness,
Passing from breast to breast,
Reaching easily all men,
And the vine in the orchard,
And the thick clusters of the grape,
And the bending branches of the young peach trees,
When the south wind blows death upon t