Post by biglinmarshall on Sept 22, 2008 9:10:31 GMT -5
This is a poem I wrote. It's one of many included in 'Songs of the Way,' a collection of poems about crime, the death penalty and punishment. You can find it on www.lulu.com.
I also have a second collection out, 'Songs of the Romani Road,' about my own romipen and most of all, the life of the Roma. That's also available from lulu.
Anyway, hope you like my poem.
The Prisoner on Death Row
Linda Marshall
All around the Earth is full of spring,
New flowers blooming, the fields dressed in green.
The sun has chased away the rain; serene
The world outside me hears the sweet birds sing.
Radiant the world outside, but here
All is darkness in my inner being.
I am not blind, and yet my eyes are seeing
Only cold winter steel, so harsh and sere.
Young in years am I, yet like a flower
Too early plucked, I shall be shortly hurled
Out of this frightening, heartless world
Within a few short hours.
Outside, the daisies open up their eyes,
And gaze, dew-drunk, upon the lovely soil;
I, who have loved too well, after much toil,
Have been consigned to sleep, and never rise.
My dreams are troubled with the thought of this:
Today I die, and yet my child lives on,
Must harshly climb through pain once I am gone,
And I too timid for one farewell kiss!
Until I killed the man I loved and cherished
Only bright sunlight shone in my girl’s face;
Although they let me wear the widow’s lace
They knew – she knew – at my hand he had perished.
O, the sunlight falling soft and warm
Upon me for a moment in my cell
As it streams through the bars of my small hell
To light the way for those who mean me harm!
The free swallows flash across the sky,
Floating and diving through the joyful air,
And making love without a thought of care:
Today I die.
How can the Earth outside be full of beauty,
And all that lives beyond be free and glad?
While I, alone, cast down, trembling, am sad,
Knowing the nurse will come to do her duty?
As all around the buds of life in bloom
Break in upon me with their laughing song,
So I prepare myself. It is not long
Till I shall plunge into eternal gloom.
I loved a man and he loved me,
Then she came into our life;
O, I was a jealous wife,
And killed my husband. Pity me!
Stunted in this horrid cell,
With hateful prisoners and guards,
Outside, bare walls and exercise yards:
I am in hell.
Never again to smell the scent of roses,
Nor hear the silver tongues of singing birds;
Never again to hear my daughter’s words
Once my young life closes.
O God, how small this worthless heart of mine!
How terrible my loss has been already!
And now, of all times, I must hold on steady
As human justice mixes with divine.
All too soon my young life thrown away,
One act of wicked folly, and I know
That very soon they come, and I must go
Into the dampness of eternal clay.
Now it is time; I cannot see my daughter,
Or rather, will not put her through the pain
Of such a fraught farewell to me again,
Before Nurse Ratchet leads me to the slaughter.
Farewell to joy and hope, farewell to light;
Farewell to love and laughter, even life;
Farewell to being widow as once wife;
Now I shall plunge into eternal night.
I also have a second collection out, 'Songs of the Romani Road,' about my own romipen and most of all, the life of the Roma. That's also available from lulu.
Anyway, hope you like my poem.
The Prisoner on Death Row
Linda Marshall
All around the Earth is full of spring,
New flowers blooming, the fields dressed in green.
The sun has chased away the rain; serene
The world outside me hears the sweet birds sing.
Radiant the world outside, but here
All is darkness in my inner being.
I am not blind, and yet my eyes are seeing
Only cold winter steel, so harsh and sere.
Young in years am I, yet like a flower
Too early plucked, I shall be shortly hurled
Out of this frightening, heartless world
Within a few short hours.
Outside, the daisies open up their eyes,
And gaze, dew-drunk, upon the lovely soil;
I, who have loved too well, after much toil,
Have been consigned to sleep, and never rise.
My dreams are troubled with the thought of this:
Today I die, and yet my child lives on,
Must harshly climb through pain once I am gone,
And I too timid for one farewell kiss!
Until I killed the man I loved and cherished
Only bright sunlight shone in my girl’s face;
Although they let me wear the widow’s lace
They knew – she knew – at my hand he had perished.
O, the sunlight falling soft and warm
Upon me for a moment in my cell
As it streams through the bars of my small hell
To light the way for those who mean me harm!
The free swallows flash across the sky,
Floating and diving through the joyful air,
And making love without a thought of care:
Today I die.
How can the Earth outside be full of beauty,
And all that lives beyond be free and glad?
While I, alone, cast down, trembling, am sad,
Knowing the nurse will come to do her duty?
As all around the buds of life in bloom
Break in upon me with their laughing song,
So I prepare myself. It is not long
Till I shall plunge into eternal gloom.
I loved a man and he loved me,
Then she came into our life;
O, I was a jealous wife,
And killed my husband. Pity me!
Stunted in this horrid cell,
With hateful prisoners and guards,
Outside, bare walls and exercise yards:
I am in hell.
Never again to smell the scent of roses,
Nor hear the silver tongues of singing birds;
Never again to hear my daughter’s words
Once my young life closes.
O God, how small this worthless heart of mine!
How terrible my loss has been already!
And now, of all times, I must hold on steady
As human justice mixes with divine.
All too soon my young life thrown away,
One act of wicked folly, and I know
That very soon they come, and I must go
Into the dampness of eternal clay.
Now it is time; I cannot see my daughter,
Or rather, will not put her through the pain
Of such a fraught farewell to me again,
Before Nurse Ratchet leads me to the slaughter.
Farewell to joy and hope, farewell to light;
Farewell to love and laughter, even life;
Farewell to being widow as once wife;
Now I shall plunge into eternal night.