The Convict’s Appeal [Stanzas 1– 15]
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2022
Summary
The hours fly fast, and soon the beam
Of life's last day must break;
And soon must be fulfill’d the dream,
From which ‘twas joy to wake.
I dreamt just now, when feverish sleep
My heavy eye-lids seal’d,
I could not sigh, I could not weep,
My heart was sear’d and steel’d.
I stood, methought, in mute despair,
Upon the scaffold's height,
And mark’d the thousands gather’d there,
To gaze upon the sight.
O pardon, Heav’n! the impious thought,
For impious it must be,
Which in that dreadful hour was brought,
Unconsciously to me.
Forgive me, if I wildly pray’d,
The yawning earth might ope,
And swallow those who thus survey’d,
A being ‘reft of hope.
’Twas frenzied anguish brought that prayer,
To slumbering misery;
Yet sure ‘twas cruel to come there,
My wretched death to see.
For there were Fathers , Husbandstoo,
Who wives and daughters had;
And even Motherscame to view,
While mine!—it made me mad!
A suffocating thirst, a swell,
Which seem’d my breath to choak,
Came over me:—it broke the spell
Of sleep, and I awoke.
Though momentary the relief,
It seem’d a respite given;
A something to give vent to grief,
To weep, and kneel to Heaven.
Now, thanks to God's most gracious name,
That frenzied hour is past;
Yet still o’erwhelm’d with grief and shame,
I can but dread the last.
Must I then meet my death so soon?
Can they who power possess,
To grant of life the glorious boon,
Be deaf to my distress?
From Virtue's paths though I have swerv’d,
And injur’d man, can I,
For bloodless crimes, have e’er deserv’d
That dreadful doom—TO DIE?
Such is, it seems, the Law'sdecree,
No mercy can be shown;
My life the sacrifice must be,
Though ill it can atone.
To Thee, O God! who, through thy Son,
Hast proffer’d life to all,
Who feel themselves by sin undone,
I turn,—before Thee fall;—
And supplicate with streaming eyes,
And heart with anguish rife,
From Thee, that mercy man denies,
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- Information
- Selected Poems of Bernard Barton, the 'Quaker Poet' , pp. 29 - 31Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2020