Page 311 - Demo

Chapter NiNe 311
one day, Emmet was found guilty and sentenced to death. Before the sentence was passed, he made the eloquent speech in which he asked that his memory should be left in oblivion and his tomb remain uninscribed, until other times and other men could do justice to his character. When his country took her place among the nations of the earth, then and not till then, should his epitaph be written.
Emmet’s Death
“He dies to-day,” said the heartless judge, Whilst he sate him down to the feast, And a smile was upon his ashy lip
As he uttered a ribald jest;
For a demon dwelt where his heart should be, That lived upon blood and sin,
And oft as that vile judge gave him food
The demon throbbed within.
“He dies to-day,” said the jailer grim, Whilst a tear was in his eye;
“But why should I feel so grieved for him/ Sure, I’ve seen many die!
Last night I went to his stony cell, With the scanty prison fare
He was sitting at a table rude, Plaiting a lock of hair!
And he look’d so mild, with his pale, pale face, And he spoke in so kind a way,
That my old breast heaved with a smothering feel, And I knew not what to say! ”
“He dies to-day,” thought a fair, sweet girl She lacked the life to speak,
For sorrow had almost frozen her blood,