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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AWAITING THE GUILLOTINE, 1794, by ANDRE MARIE CHENIER First Line: As a last zephyr, or the last warm ray Last Line: For you alone to live has any worth. Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Chenier, Andre Marie De (1762-1794); French History - Reign Of Terror; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty | |||
As a last zephyr, or the last warm ray, Gladdens the closing day, Thus at the scaffold's foot my lyre I try, My turn perchance draws nigh. Perchance before this hour in circle led Has o'er the dial sped, Before the sixty little steps that bound Its course be travelled round, The sleep of death shall on my lids recline, And ere the second line Be written of the couplet I begin, Perchance these walls within Death's herald, black recruiter of pale ghosts Led by his murdering hosts, Shall, with my name, fill these long corridors. Save me! Preserve one arm To hurl your thunder-bolts. One Lover, sworn To wreck full vengeance for each harm By thee, my country, borne. What! die before my quiver all is spent? Till I have torn, and rent, Trod under foot, and kncaded into clay, Those ruffians who with Justice play: Those shameless tyrants who would France destroy, France, murdered, butchered France, O thou, my joy! My scathing pen, gall, fury, deathless hate, Until revenge I sate You are my only gods; henceforth For you alone to live has any worth. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE NEGATIVES by PHILIP LEVINE ALL LIFE IN A LIFE by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE EXECUTION OF MAXIMILIAN by ARTHUR SZE TWO FUNERALS: 2. by LOUIS UNTERMEYER BALLADE OF THE MEN WHO WERE HANGED by FRANCOIS VILLON EPITAPH IN BALLADE FORM by FRANCOIS VILLON VILLON'S EPITAPH by FRANCOIS VILLON |
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