The Angry Exile: Award presentation time.

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, 22 January 2011

Award presentation time.

And it's a special recognition by popular acclaim - okay, by me, Caratacus and Max Farquar - of a unique talent.

microdave? Step up, mate, this is your night.

You can pick it up any time you like.

Speech! Speech!

Comments (9)

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+1 Vote up Vote down

Captain Ranty · 739 weeks ago

Well deserved award.

Congratulations Dave!

CR.

+1 Vote up Vote down

microdave · 739 weeks ago

Fuck.... I'm going to have a soak in the bath. Once I've got rid of the feathers, and chicken shit, I might be able to say something more meaningful....

2 replies · active 739 weeks ago

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AmbushPredator 59p · 739 weeks ago

+2 Vote up Vote down

Angry_Exile 90p · 739 weeks ago

You generally do in comments, mate.

0 Vote up Vote down

Bucko · 739 weeks ago

Good award!

+2 Vote up Vote down

microdave · 739 weeks ago

Sorry for the delay in coming up with this reply. I'm not sure if it's just coincidence, but yesterday evening I began to feel as if I was going down with the flu - shivering, and a temperature. I've worked in my friends chicken sheds before, but usually manage to keep the time inside as short as possible. Whether there was "something in the air", apart from the dust and that all pervading stink of ammonia, I don't know. However I'm feeling somewhat better today, so I'll try and respond in a more measured way.

Thanks for the award, I'm not sure you can call me a "blogger" - commenter is more appropriate at the moment. You aren't the first to urge me to start my own blog, and this won't be the first time I've said I'm not sure.... However if the general consensus is that my "contributions" are worthy of a standalone platform, I suppose I will have to reconsider. I did register a site a couple of months ago and had a quick play with it, partly due to offering another blogger some assistance. However I found it all too easy to bugger things up, and didn't do any more with it.

Like I said, I'm an "Old Tech" person, and prefer working with things that require screwdrivers, spanners, and the occasional bloody good clout from a hammer... Sometimes turning the power back on results in a loud bang, followed by a cloud of accrid smoke, but that's all part of the fun! Computers are an entirely different matter. I have found many times that just when I thought I was getting on well, I make a simple mistake, and then get knocked right back down again.

I've been kindly offered the opportunity to do some "guest" posts - no names yet - so I will have to give this a try first, and see what sort of a mess I make of it. What bothers me is the world of difference between making comments on a post someone else has made, and having to produce an original work of my own. There have been a spate of blogs closing down recently, for various reasons - I don't want to get in the situation of feeling compelled to post regardless of the content. I can't see the point of duplicating the detailed works such as you (AE) produce, but if my light-hearted look on things is what folks want, then I think I can just about manage. The "MSN" posts that Gotty put up seemed to be well received, so maybe something along these lines to start with?

Anyway, I'm not making any promises, but I'll look into it. Thanks again for the kind words.
MD

2 replies · active 739 weeks ago

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Angry_Exile 90p · 739 weeks ago

MD, I really wasn't trying to put any pressure on you to start blogging. Good if you do but fine if you don't. It really was no more than a little recognition of you being the author behind the author of some good blog posts and no few incisive comments as well. Akubra doffed.

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maxfarquar 66p · 739 weeks ago

No pressure.
You will know when the time is right MD. Until such time, keep doing what you doing, we all appreciate your valued contributions to our humble blogs ;-)
Thanks!

+2 Vote up Vote down

AllSeeingEye 55p · 739 weeks ago

Very well deserved. Top bloke, microdave.

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