From The Gaol To The Gallows. Poem by PAUL COLVIN

You lay in your gaol
Wondering how you did fail
As the chill travelled up through your bones
Betrayed by a friend
Brought your life to an end
This young life was never your own.

As the gallows drew nigh
You held your head high
As a silence came over the crowd
Standing proud and upright
You heard your last rites
The last thing, alive, you're allowed.

The gallows stood tall
As the rope broke your fall
Your time on this earth is now done
Those jeering now prayed
As the noose wildly swayed
You shook in the cold winter's sun.

As you swung in the air
Below, your coffin lay bare
The hangman watched on all alone
Once the crowd were expelled
The timbers were felled
You'd danced to his tune on your own.

No headstone was placed
This town you'd disgraced
But worse, betrayed by a friend
Six feet ‘neath the ground
This young man has found
You can't rely on those you depend.

He fought for his cause
But that's all that it was
He didn't know the right from the wrong
And did not understand
All those orders, commands
But as a man he had to belong.

Paul Colvin. (A Jacobite Tale) .