The moon shone bright, on the righteous that night,
As they slept safe in their beds.
Dreaming of rewards, that the Lord accords;
The avarice of hearts and heads.
My throat did thirst, when I heard it first,
In God’s Holy Chapel as I sat.
There was no doubt, the verdict about,
For the message out they spat.
“He’s sure to hang!” had cried the band,
When the verdict first came to me.
My heart fell fast, into the dark.
As I pondered his memory.
I recall it still, my mind, my will,
I felt great pain within.
I knew this man, had held his hand,
I knew he would not sin.
I knew his part, from the very start,
My vigil again commenced.
On feet I stood, with a heavy mood,
His mortality I so sensed.
That Magistrate, he now of late,
He said he knew the truth.
He cast his eye, and condemned to die,
That sad and fearful youth.
To the gaol I went, whence he was sent,
Fast beat my sorry heart.
They held him there, ‘though I declare,
He loved his dear sweetheart.
In his cell we met, I ne’er will forget,
The look upon his face.
No sign of fear, nor yet a tear,
But pleading God’s good grace.
The prison guard, with face so scarred,
He laughed to see us pray.
He shook the chains, and to that refrain,
We passed that awful day.
I asked of him, his soul to win,
To tell me all and true.
With truthful eyes, he asked me why,
He must drink that bitter brew.
I could not say, to him that day,
Why God had decreed it so;
Why God’s Right Hand, in all that land,
Had laid him there so low.
Of Him I implored, to me afford,
The means to have him freed.
But ‘though I prayed, my fears arrayed,
He yet did not accede.
The girl had died, he knew not why,
He found her there that day.
Her life was gone, ‘neath the dying sun,
In the ground she now decayed.
So the young man cried, for his love had died,
He knew not who did the deed.
His conscience was clear, ‘though filled with fear,
But none his voice would heed.
Then on his own, with aching bones,
He stared up at the sky.
As curiosity stirred, a thought occurred,
As when he now should die.
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