To Someone Who is Innocent

Elisabeth Layne

Tall and slender she sits before

     The judges on that shining floor

Her grey eyes calm and ever bound

     From whence the sentence now is sent:

“Guilty!” rings the courtroom round

     Guilty, but of nought she’s found

Guilty, what a dreaded sound-

     To someone who is innocent.

Leaving her death to be presumed

     They led her to the prison room

Her inner peace glowed from her eyes,

     Assurance, this is what HE meant.

Within they knew they had surmised

     Within they knew what they’d implied

Within they knew that death draws nigh-

     To someone who is innocent.

They guided her to her deadly fine

     For treading on that deadly line

They thought she’d fallen for their lure

     She knew nought had been innocent.

Bravely, boldly, she stepped before

     The last sunlight forever more

They shot, she fell, on that bloody shore

     As someone who is innocent.

                                                El

On the tragedy of Edith Cavell, 1865 – 1915