Classic Poem

Here, under the weight of an unknown sentence,
under the lead and the slate of the sky,
someone boozes and babbles to the silence,
but I'm not sure who, though together we die.

Here, under the weight of a sharpened axe,
under an executioner's tearless eye,
someone waits and prays and desperately asks
clinging faithfully to an age-old lie.

Here, under the weight of a knotted rope,
under the narrowing noose of his crime,
someone thinks and disbelieves, full of hope:
forever lasts only as long as time.