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the condemned.
Did I acknowledge it? oh! no:
Say, jailer, did I strike the blow?
Yes, thou wert present at the time
When I denied or owned the crime.
I saw thee there when I was led
To gaze upon the fearful bed,
As each excited crowd made way
That I might touch the pale cold clay.
Seemed I reluctant to approach,
Or did I dread that brow to touch?
They said, had I the murder done,
Fresh from the wound the blood would run;
But when to the pale corpse I turned
I could not breathe, my eye-balls turned.
I saw my father standing there,
With placid brow and silver hair:
I heard his voice—then reason fled,
I only felt that she was dead.
I knew I stood beside the couch,
I know not if I dared to touch:
Say, jailer, did the victim bleed,
In witness that I did the deed?
I know not what I mentioned there,
I only found that I was here,
With shackled limbs, condemned to pay
My life for her's I took away.
I took—just powers! yet it must be—
The crime, the suffering rest on me.
Could I free pardon now procure,
I would not—nay, I will endure;
Say, jailer, did I strike the blow?
Yes, thou wert present at the time
When I denied or owned the crime.
I saw thee there when I was led
To gaze upon the fearful bed,
As each excited crowd made way
That I might touch the pale cold clay.
Seemed I reluctant to approach,
Or did I dread that brow to touch?
They said, had I the murder done,
Fresh from the wound the blood would run;
But when to the pale corpse I turned
I could not breathe, my eye-balls turned.
I saw my father standing there,
With placid brow and silver hair:
I heard his voice—then reason fled,
I only felt that she was dead.
I knew I stood beside the couch,
I know not if I dared to touch:
Say, jailer, did the victim bleed,
In witness that I did the deed?
I know not what I mentioned there,
I only found that I was here,
With shackled limbs, condemned to pay
My life for her's I took away.
I took—just powers! yet it must be—
The crime, the suffering rest on me.
Could I free pardon now procure,
I would not—nay, I will endure;
