The Detroit tribune. (Detroit, Mich.) 1935-1966, 1942-11-21


mn mon his stomach. his face
~ in the crook OF an elbow.
as he lay down upon a cot
n the pale yellow sunshine OF
FEBRUARY sky falling obliquely
I'M him through the cold steel
d Of the Eleventh Street Police
ktOn.
FOOD was brought to him upon
Iu and an hour later the trays
q, taken :.way, untouched. They
4, him packages OF cigarettes,
4 they lay on the floor unopen-
He would not even drink
ktN He simply lay or sat. say
nothing. not noticing when
{yuue entered or left his cell.
E,n they wanted him TO go
bu one place TO another, they
Iurht him by the wrist and led
IA. he weAt without resistance.
Shlng always with dragging
n head down. Even when they
Iaiched him up by the collar,
! weak body easily lending it.
N 10 be man-handled, he look
without hope or resentment.
! eyes like two still pools OF
hi ink In his flaccid face. No
n had seen him save the Of
halls and he had asked to see
! one. Not once during the three
|n following his capture had an
base Of what he had done come
No his mind. He had thrust the
tcle thing back OF him, and there
| lay, monstrous and horrible. He
ks moi so much in a stupor. as
the grip OF deep physiologi-
resolution not TO react to any
ing
Having been thrown by an acci-
M murder into a position where
had sensed 1. possible order
u meaning In his relations with
\ people about him; having ac-
|pkd the moral guilt and re-
FEASIBILITY for that murder be-
use II had made him feel free
J the first time in his life: hav-
4 ielt in his heart some obscure
fN to be at home with people
p having demanded ransom
|pney 10 enable him to do it.
ping done all this and failed. he
Jose not to struggle any more.
|iih supreme act OF will spring
d from the essence OF his be-
3 he turned away from his
Fs and the long train OF dis
|lrous consequences that had
rved from II and looked visit
Ply upon the dark face OF an
|,nt waters upon which some
PIT had breathed and created
N, the dark face OF the waters
|cm which he had been first
|ide IN the image Of man with
mans obscure need and urge;
|ellng that he wanted TO sink
rck into those waters and rest
|snally.
and yet his desire to crush all
lA IN him was in itself built
|'on a sense OF faith. The feel
rs Of his body reasoned that II
k'e could be no merging with the
"a and women about him, there
1.0uld be a merging with some
,neI part OF the natural world in
'aeh he lived. Out OF the mood
! renunciatlon there sprang up
MN again the will to kill. But
" ume II was not directed out
'uu toward people, but inward,
pM himself Why not kill that
award warming within him that
= led him to this end? He had
.sned out and killed and had
Y solved anything. so why not
.en inward and kill that which
y ouped him? This feeling
rsng up OF itself. organically.
. s"matically: like the rotted hull
\, seed forming the soil in
'.Vh II should grow again.
ana, under and above it all,
we was the fear OF death be-
'ss which he was naked and
.aOu. defense: he had to go
~'ara and meet his end like
Y, o'ner living thing upon the
~. ~ and regulating his attitude
.'"u death was the fact that
vas black. unequal. and de-
80 Passively. he hungered for
y. .s'ner orbit between two poles
would let him live again; for
~, Nv mode OF life that would
=. MN up with the tension OF
ana love. There would have
.0,er abve him. like the stars
iull sky. a vast configura-
49, VI images and symbols whose
~ ana power could lift him
sna maxi him live so intense
1, IsI the dread OF being black
\. unequal would be forgotten
wen death would not mat
\ mat Il would be a victory.
Won, would have to happen before
nm ,Ouio look them In the face
49, rew pride and a new
'y would have TO be born
!. humility springing from
80 Identification with some
o. the world in which he
and this Identification form
", we basis for a new hope that
4 S,. junction IN him as pride
49, ~ maybe Il would never come; ;
~ mere was no such thing
maybe he would have
~ % his end just a he was.