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For those taken in rapid cars to the house and beaten
By the skillful boys with the rubber fists
Held down and beaten the table cutting the loins
Or kicked in the groin and left with the muscles jerking
Like a headless hens on the floor of the slaughterhouse
While they brought the next man in with his white eyes staring
For those who still said Red Front or God save the Crown
And for those who were not courageous
But were beaten nevertheless...
Stephen Vincent Benét
Litany for Dictatorships
1935