The Angry Exile: Merry Christmas.

The Hangman

Into our town the Hangman came,
Smelling of gold and blood and flame.
And he paced our bricks with a diffident air,
And built his frame in the courthouse square.
The scaffold stood by the courthouse side,
Only as wide as the door was wide;
A frame as tall, or little more,
Than the capping sill of the courthouse door.
And we wondered, whenever we had the time,
Who the criminal, what the crime
That the Hangman judged with the yellow twist
of knotted hemp in his busy fist.
And innocent though we were, with dread,
We passed those eyes of buckshot lead --
Till one cried: "Hangman, who is he
For whom you raised the gallows-tree?"
Then a twinkle grew in the buckshot eye,
And he gave us a riddle instead of reply:
"He who serves me best," said he,
"Shall earn the rope of the gallows-tree."
And he stepped down, and laid his hand
On a man who came from another land.
And we breathed again, for another's grief
At the Hangman's hand was our relief
And the gallows-frame on the courthouse lawn
By tomorrow's sun would be struck and gone.
So we gave him way, and no one spoke,
Out of respect for his Hangman's cloak.
The next day's sun looked mildly down
On roof and street in our quiet town,
And stark and black in the morning air
Was the gallows-tree in the courthouse square.
And the Hangman stood at his usual stand
With the yellow hemp in his busy hand;
With his buckshot eye and his jaw like a pike
And his air so knowing and business-like.
And we cried, "Hangman, have you not done
Yesterday, with the foreign one?"
Then we fell silent, and stood amazed,
"Oh, not for him was the gallows raised."
He laughed a laugh as he looked at us:
"Did you think I'd gone to all this fuss
To hang one man? That's a thing I do
To stretch a rope when the rope is new."
Then one cried "Murder!" and one cried "Shame!"
And into our midst the Hangman came
To that man's place. "Do you hold," said he,
"with him that was meant for the gallows-tree?"
And he laid his hand on that one's arm.
And we shrank back in quick alarm!
And we gave him way, and no one spoke
Out of fear of his Hangman's cloak.
That night we saw with dread surprise
The Hangman's scaffold had grown in size.
Fed by the blood beneath the chute,
The gallows-tree had taken root;
Now as wide, or a little more,
Than the steps that led to the courthouse door,
As tall as the writing, or nearly as tall,
Halfway up on the courthouse wall.
The third he took -- we had all heard tell --
Was a usurer, and an infidel.
"What," said the Hangman "have you to do
With the gallows-bound, and he a Jew?"
And we cried out, "Is this one he
Who has served you well and faithfully?"
The Hangman smiled: "It's a clever scheme
to try the strength of the gallows-beam."
The fourth man's dark, accusing song
Had scratched our comfort hard and long;
"And what concern," he gave us back.
"Have you for the doomed -- the doomed and Black?"
The fifth. The sixth. And we cried again,
"Hangman, Hangman, is this the man?"
"It's a trick," he said. "that we hangmen know
For easing the trap when the trap springs slow."
And so we ceased, and asked no more,
As the Hangman tallied his bloody score.
And sun by sun, and night by night,
The gallows grew to monstrous height.
The wings of the scaffold opened wide
Till they covered the square from side to side;
And the monster cross-beam, looking down,
Cast its shadow across the town.
Then through the town the Hangman came,
Through the empty streets, and called my name --
And I looked at the gallows soaring tall,
And thought, "There is no one left at all
For hanging, and so he calls to me
To help pull down the gallows-tree."
So I went out with right good hope
To the Hangman's tree and the Hangman's rope.
He smiled at me as I came down
To the courthouse square through the silent town.
And supple and stretched in his busy hand
Was the yellow twist of the hempen strand.
And he whistled his tune as he tried the trap,
And it sprang down with a ready snap --
And then with a smile of awful command
He laid his hand upon my hand.
"You tricked me. Hangman!," I shouted then,
"That your scaffold was built for other men...
And I no henchman of yours," I cried,
"You lied to me, Hangman. Foully lied!"
Then a twinkle grew in the buckshot eye,
"Lied to you? Tricked you?" he said. "Not I.
For I answered straight and I told you true --
The scaffold was raised for none but you.
For who has served me more faithfully
Then you with your coward's hope?" said he,
"And where are the others who might have stood
Side by your side in the common good?"
"Dead," I whispered. And amiably
"Murdered," the Hangman corrected me:
"First the foreigner, then the Jew...
I did no more than you let me do."
Beneath the beam that blocked the sky
None had stood so alone as I.
The Hangman noosed me, and no voice there
Cried "Stop!" for me in the empty square.

Maurice Ogden

Saturday, 25 December 2010

Merry Christmas.

To all who read my semi-coherent rantings and whose own writing inspires and entertains me, a very merry Christmas. I'll be back before New Year. Probably.

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banned · 741 weeks ago

Merry Xmas to you too.
I gather that "All that global warming" is putting a damper on Ozs Xmas beach bbqs in many areas.

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Angry_Exile 90p · 741 weeks ago

Must be quite late Xmas Day there, so hope you've had a good one. As for the warble gloaming, not in Mellie anyway. It was a cooler day than forecast for these parts but still okay and not that unusual. And some high altitude areas have had some snow, which is a bit out of the ordinary but not unheard of. But we have been getting the effects of La Niña helping dump a lot of rain on us over the last few months. Lots of flooding in the eastern states and Melbourne water levels were at 53.6% capacity yesterday, compared to about 38% or so on Xmas Day last year. Is it climate change? Nah, it's just climate of course, which is always changing. But I have little doubt that someone somewhere will blame it on my car anyway.

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Captain Ranty · 741 weeks ago

Merry Christmas mate!

Keep safe and well for 2011.

CR.

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Angry_Exile 90p · 741 weeks ago

You too, Cap'n. Good luck in the coming year for the various battles you have teed up with HMRC and other goon squads.

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Bucko · 741 weeks ago

Have a great Christmas AE

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Angry_Exile 90p · 741 weeks ago

You too, Bucko. Hope you've had a good Xmas Day.

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microdave · 741 weeks ago

There were some pictures on WUWT a few days back showing 'OZ covered in white, and looking more like the UK.

So crank the barbie up a couple of notches, and put some more CO2 into the atmosphere!

Bit late to wish you Happy Christmas now, as it's nearly over in your part of the World, so enjoy Boxing Day and the rest of the break.

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Angry_Exile 90p · 741 weeks ago

Thanks, microdave. Hope you're enjoying the last hours of Christmas there. I saw those photos on WUWT but like I said to banned it's not unheard of to get white Christmases in some parts here. Mostly high up of course, and Mount Hotham, which I thin got most, is at close to 2 km altitude. I think it's more common in the Tasmanian highlands (and not just the highlands) because even though they're not as high there's basically fuck all between them and Antarctica. All it takes is a nice strong southerly wind. Being lower down and sheltered by Tassie means Melbourne probably doesn't get cold enough for snow very often, but again it does happen sometimes apparently. One day I'm going to have to scrape the car windscreen again for the first time since my last British winter, and it's going to come as a shock. It'll be a credit card job too since I no longer have a scraper. :o

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killemall · 740 weeks ago

A bit late, but I hope you had a good one!

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