A Hangman's Song

My hands I look at

And wonder what work it does?

At a public place and before a crowd it kills

A culprit thus;

It has been years at the prison now,

I see the convicts come and go.

Some die a death every day

Some are hanged to death.

That is where my part begins

That is where I question myself

"Who am I to execute somebody?

Who am I to put someone to Death?"

"You are obeying the Law," They say,

The Defenders of the Law;

But the voice within me cries out

Do I not have a heart?

A man like me to the world is indeed an exceptional gift.

A man who hangs the miscreant

Should also have a stony heart indeed.

A Hangman's song cannot be this I say

I kill not for pleasure or to satisfy

I execute because it is a duty I am vested with!

"A Hangman's hands cannot shiver, " They say

But a Hangman's song is...

Purge me of all that is in

Make my hands clean.

A Hangman would not be born

If there were no offense so grim.