Heaven, beg mercy for me!  If there is br a God in you, a pathway through br you to this God - which I have not br discovered - then pray for me!  For my br heart is dead, no longer is there prayer br on my lips; all strength is gone, and br hope is no more.  Until when, how br much longer, until when? br br You, executioner!  Here's my neck - go br to it, slaughter me!  Behead me like a br dog, yours is the almighty arm and the br axe, and the whole earth is my scaffold br - and we, we are the few! My blood is br fair game - strike the skull, and br murder's blood, the blood of nurslings br and old men, will spurt onto your br clothes and will never, never be wiped br off. br br And if there is justice - let it show br itself at once!  But if justice show itself br after I have been blotted out from br beneath the skies - let its throne be br hurled down forever!  Let heaven rot br with eternal evil!  And you, the arrogant, br go in this violence of yours, live by br your bloodshed and be cleansed by it. br br And cursed be the man who says: br Avenge!  No such revenge - revenge for br the blood of a little child - has yet been br devised by Satan.  Let the blood pierce br through the abyss!  Let the blood seep br down into the depths of darkness, and br eat away there, in the dark, and breach br all the rotting foundations of the earth.