300 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



" Open the way ! Fall back ! Fall back ! 



And let the victim through, 

 To the mocking chant of the bigot priest 



And the muffled drums tattoo ; 

 They have tortured him long, but his spirit strong, 



Ne'er cowed 'neath rack or screw. 



" My First stepped forth and grasped his arm 

 (He felt no muscle shake). 

 And led him within the fatal ring ; 



Nor then did his victim quake, 

 When a chain was riveted to his waist. 

 And round the fatal stake. 



" He had seen my Second red with blood 



Of friend and foe and steed. 

 He had looked on death in every form, 



He had seen a father bleed ; 

 The flames of my Whole were a terrible goal, 



But he could not renounce his creed." 



IV. 



(August, 1849.) 



" She stood upon the scaffold 

 With a firm, undaunted mien, 



Condemned to die a shameful death, 

 But yesterday a Queen ! 



Ill-fated Jane, how brief thy reign ! 

 How dark thy closing scene 1 



" She fearless gazes on my First 



With sable trappings hung, 

 And to the bright and glittering axe 



She speaks with jesting tongue": 

 ' Fear not to fall, my neck is small, 



Thy work is quickly done.' 



" Where are the eyes that fearless gazed ? 



Their lustre now is fled. 

 Where is the tongue where hung the jest ? 



Inanimate and dead. 

 The snowy neck she used to deck. 



The axe has left it red. 



