A state’s attorney describes himself as a merciless enforcer—proud of whipping and jailing lawbreakers, even pushing a jury to hang a mentally ill man. Then his own son suffers a brain injury during birth. The shock is like a light too bright to bear: it knocks him down and forces him to see a painful truth. He turns away from punishment and dedicates himself to studying and caring for people with mental illness. The closing image is quiet and profound. His damaged son becomes the potter, and all the speaker’s later acts of charity are just vessels shaped by the boy’s hands. The mood is somber, regretful, and tender. He seems humbled by the realization that the child he might have pitied actually remade his life.
State’s Attorney Fallas — Summary
I, the scourge-wielder, balance-wrecker, Smiter with whips and swords; I, hater of the breakers of the law; I, legalist, inexorable and bitter, Driving the jury to hang the madman, Barry Holden, Was made as one dead by light too bright for eyes, And woke to face a Truth with bloody brow: Steel forceps fumbled by a doctor’s hand Against my boy’s head as he entered life Made him an idiot. I turned to books of science To care for him. That’s how the world of those whose minds are sick Became my work in life, and all my world. Poor ruined boy! You were, at last, the potter And I and all my deeds of charity The vessels of your hand.