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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
What spell cast fetters on my tongue , That then I did not speak , And plead against the reckless wretch , Strong because / was weak ? What had my gentle mother felt Could she have known my woes—Beheld me spurned with coarse
contempt—Debased with bitter blows !—Torn , sleepy , shivering , from my bed—A slavish lackey made—A true apprenticeship I passed Unto the tyrant's trade ! I learned the arts that cheats essay ,
The despot to elude , — I learned upon the weak to prey—Grew callous , reckless , rude ; And when I left the public school , My education done , 'Twas well I had my mother lost , For she had lost her son !
I brought into the busy world A tiger-hearted breast—A vulture ' s eye—a lie-stain'd lip , That still in smiles was dressed . Oh , I could bless and blight in turn , Alike could soothe or slay , I loved command , but well had learned The serpent ' s subtle way .
What ' s been my course ? Oh ! do not ask—I did not stab nor steal , But these are mrtues to the crimes My story might reveal . This coward hand has struck her down
Who loved me—bore my name : — I played to her the traitor ' s part , Without remorse or shame . Yet had she been less pure than snow—Less full of love and trust , I would have cast her on the world
A wreck—was I not just ? Yes , —just ) as I'd been taught to be : — Might was my plea for power—I had been ruled with iron sway , And seized in turn my hour . My headlong rage has even failed At times to spare my child , Sudden and eavage , oft in vain The Victim shrieked or smiled .
Yet well I bore me to the world , I bowed with gallant grace ,
The Confessions of a Fag . 265
Ko , 88 . * | 7