Fettered by chain, under lock and key
Under a many-chambered dungeon deep.
Ever I revelled in hope of escape,
Escape through secret ways unknown;
But seeing hope grow ever more faint,
I fell to thinking of how I came here:

Remembering hands that seized like talons,
And long dusty roads they dragged me down:
Through dry dessert to fortress strong,
Where, on a throne, there sat a king:
A lord of people both wicked and strong.
Unjust judgements he passed on me,
And into this dungeon he did cast me.

What hope I knew faded from view,
As six times tolled yonder bell--
That heralds for most a hopeful dawn--
Was in my heart my own death knell;
For then was heard beyond those doors
Echoes resounding through chamber and hall:
The fell footfall of iron-shod shoes:
For here they have come to take me hence
Forth to doom and ending untimely.

Copyright © 1987, Robert Kauffmann.  All Rights Reserved.