The Trap

She was taught desire in the street,

Not at the angels’ feet.

By the good no word was said

Of the worth of the bridal bed.

The secret was learned from the vile,

Not from her mother's smile.

Home spoke not. And the girl

Was caught in the public whirl.

Do you say “She gave consent:

Life drunk, she was content

With beasts that her fire could please?”

But she did not choose disease

Of mind and nerves and breath.

She was trapped to a slow, foul death.

The door was watched so well,

That the steep dark stair to hell

Was the only escaping way...

“She gave consent,” you say?

Some think she was meek and good,

Only lost in the wood

Of youth, and deceived in man

When the hunger of sex began

That ties the husband and wife

To the end in a strong fond life.

Her captor, by chance was one

Of those whose passion was done,

A cold fierce worm of the sea

Enslaving for you and me.

The wages the poor must take

Have forced them to serve this snake.

Yea, half-paid girls must go

For bread to his pit below.

What hangman shall wait his host

Of butchers from coast to coast,

New York to the Golden Gate —

The merger of death and fate,

Lust-kings with a careful plan

Clean-cut, American?

In liberty's name we cry

For these women about to die.

O mothers who failed to tell

The mazes of heaven and hell,

Who failed to advise, implore

Your daughters at Love's strange door,

What will you do this day?

Your dear ones are hidden away,

As good as chained to the bed,

Hid like the mad, or the dead:—

The glories of endless years

Drowned in their harlot-tears:

The children they hoped to bear,

Grandchildren strong and fair,

The life for ages to be,

Cut off like a blasted tree,

Murdered in filth in a day,

Somehow, by the merchant gay!

In liberty's name we cry

For these women about to die.

What shall be said of a state

Where traps for the white brides wait?

Of sellers of drink who play

The game for the extra pay?

Of statesmen in league with all

Who hope for the girl-child's fall?

Of banks where hell's money is paid

And Pharisees all afraid

Of pandars that help them sin?

When will our wrath begin?