TWO SONNETS
I.
ON THE IMPENDING EXECUTION OF FLORENCE
MAYBRICK
This crime will darken England, and dethrone
Justice.—On one side, human, prone to err,
Twelve men, and men, moreover, judging her
For one sin mainly—sin confessed and known.
But on the other side, as hourly shown,
The soul of England, greater than her laws:
The voice that bids the ermined Hangman pause:
The nation's sob, that deepens to a groan.
Carry out the sentence? What dishonour then
Shall rest for ever on the hands that slew,
Though England cried, “This woman's cause is mine!”
Reverse it? From the hearts of living men
Honour, and time's vast tribute nobly due
To those who held the helm in 'eighty-nine.
Aug. 13, 1889.
II.
THE FIRST STONE
When English justice had the strength to spare,
That so the August morning might not see
A woman carried to the gallows-tree
For Death with huge delight to bind her there
And watch her dangling in the summer air—
When England felt that this crime must not be;
When women said, “Be ours the penalty,
So she be saved from that supreme despair;”
When all the avengers vanished, one by one,
No sinless hand being found to seize and fling
Death's missiles, so that she was left alone,
One writer
felt his task was not yet done,
Looked straight at Jesus—cried, “My lord and king,
Let me thy sinless servant hurl the stone!”
Aug. 24, 1889.
