Introductory Sonnet. Madame Roland at the Foot of the Scaffold
MADAME ROLAND AT THE FOOT OF THE SCAFFOLD
" Give me a pen, I will not hold you long,
But I have some few words that I would say
Before I mount, before I pass away,
Following my friends all gone; it is not wrong
What I would write, nor any foolish song,
But how I stand beside the shoreless sea,
A word or two from out my heart would flee
Not said before, that coming death makes strong. "
How many have felt thus besides the brave
Fair queen of womankind, the good Roland:
Life's long years past, both joyous years and grave
The wish descends upon the untired hand
To leave some self-drawn picture, or some stave
Of speech for those left waiting on the strand.
" Give me a pen, I will not hold you long,
But I have some few words that I would say
Before I mount, before I pass away,
Following my friends all gone; it is not wrong
What I would write, nor any foolish song,
But how I stand beside the shoreless sea,
A word or two from out my heart would flee
Not said before, that coming death makes strong. "
How many have felt thus besides the brave
Fair queen of womankind, the good Roland:
Life's long years past, both joyous years and grave
The wish descends upon the untired hand
To leave some self-drawn picture, or some stave
Of speech for those left waiting on the strand.
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