The Poetical Works of George Barlow In Ten [Eleven] Volumes |
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 | The Poetical Works of George Barlow |  |
199
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.
| The Poetical Works of George Barlow | |