Poems Written in Close Confinement in The Tower and Newgate Under a Charge of High Treason. By John Thelwall |
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STANZAS ON HEARING FOR CERTAINTY THAT WE WERE TO BE TRIED FOR HIGH TREASON. |
 | Poems Written in Close Confinement in The Tower and Newgate |  |
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STANZAS ON HEARING FOR CERTAINTY THAT WE WERE TO BE TRIED FOR HIGH TREASON.
SHORT is perhaps our date of life,
But let us while we live be gay—
To those be thought and anxious care
Who build upon the distant day.
But let us while we live be gay—
To those be thought and anxious care
Who build upon the distant day.
Tho' in our cup tyrannic Power
Would dash the bitter dregs of fear,
We'll gaily quaff the mantling draught,
While patriot toasts the fancy cheer.
Would dash the bitter dregs of fear,
We'll gaily quaff the mantling draught,
While patriot toasts the fancy cheer.
Sings not the seaman, tempest-tost,
When surges wash the rivven shroud—
Scorning the threat'ning voice of Fate,
That pipes in rocking winds aloud?
When surges wash the rivven shroud—
Scorning the threat'ning voice of Fate,
That pipes in rocking winds aloud?
Yes;—he can take his cheerful glass,
And toast his mistress in the storm,
While duty and remember'd joys
By turns his honest bosom warm.
And toast his mistress in the storm,
While duty and remember'd joys
By turns his honest bosom warm.
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And shall not we, in storms of state,
At base Oppression's fury laugh,
And while the vital spirits flow,
To Freedom fill, and fearless quaff?
At base Oppression's fury laugh,
And while the vital spirits flow,
To Freedom fill, and fearless quaff?
Short is perhaps our date of life,
But let us while we live be gay—
To those be thought and anxious care
Who build upon the distant day.
But let us while we live be gay—
To those be thought and anxious care
Who build upon the distant day.
Tower, Sept. 28, 1794.
| Poems Written in Close Confinement in The Tower and Newgate | |