Two households, both alike in dignity
In fair Chicago, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge breaks in new treaty,
Where civil blood binds civil lives between.

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From forth the fatal loins of these two foes,
A pair of star-crossed lovers they are not;
Whose consummation piteous overthrows
Doth with their love bury their parents’ strife.
The fearful break of their death-marked vow

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And the continuance of their bloodlines’ rage,
Which, but a child’s lifeblood, caught in between,
Is now the ink within these pages reads;
The which, if you with patient eyes attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.