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Open Poetry #35

Song of Salem - In Memory

timothysangel1973

Senior Member

since 2001-12-03

Posts 1725
Never close enough

0 posted 2005-06-09 05:40 PM

“O Christian Martyr who for truth could die
When all about thee Owned the hideous lie!
The world, redeemed from superstition’s sway
Is breathing freer for thy sake today.”

Inscription on the grave of Rebecca Nurse, one of
The condemned “witches” of Salem
Author - John Greenleaf Whittier
Song of Salem

Children that don’t get to play or sing
Will find other things to do in idol
They sure did, this is true -
And the disastrous results were final

A Caribbean slave weaving stories
Sitting next to the kitchen fire
Drawing the boredom of mind in
No Bible or chores for a while

Spectral evidence was the key
And the rope that bled the soul
Of life that lay within
Accused and killed I’m told

It was 1692 -
A place called Gallow’s Hill
Brought in on a wagon
I bet the air still holds the chill

A life before that moment
Hanging from a tree
For all the mighty accusers
To with their own eye see

They died simply because
No one could explain
The barks, or screams of illusions
And the town needed a name

The ones that escaped the noose
Were left in jail to die
The other a victom of peine fort et dure
Some released wondering “Why?”

The Lords Prayer was recited
Something they said could not be done
Though he said each and every word
…But in the end it was the rope that won

They hung because they were different
No one cared that innocence lay
Within the mouths of these children
They could so simply say:

“These, they are not witches
They do not harm us none
We are sorry for lying -
A cruel injustice we have done.”

But instead, they remained silent
Their tongues held still
And lives hung in the noose

That day on Gallow’s Hill

I may hate myself in the morning - but I'm gonna love you tonight
-Lee Ann Womack

SEA