The Hangman’s Hatch

Nine coffins lined against the wall

Nine black suits lay ready for all

Nine future widows wearing jet-black shawls

Nine men waiting for the hangman's call

Sobs and prayers sounded through the hall

Some glorious flag waved proud and tall

Paying homage to the justice about to befall

Those men waiting for the hangman's call

The trail they followed, heads bent low

Nine condemned men, a downtrodden foe

From door to scaffold so that all shall know

Where instigators and their likes eventually go

Hatches opened one by one

Ropes sprung tight as all nine swung along

The flock cheeered in unison song

In gracious sympathy for all the nine had wronged

Big, small, short and tall

All men equal at the hangman's call

Who, why, where, from whence you fall

It's all indifferent when the hangman calls

Hatches opened one by one

Ropes sprung tight as all nine swung along

The flock cheeered in unison song

In gracious sympathy for all the nine had wronged

Young and old, feint or bold

Just or vile, wrong or right

Big and small, short or tall

All men are equal to the hangman's call

Big, small, short and tall

All men equal at the hangman's call

Just or vile, wrong or right

It's all relative to when the noose draws tight

Colours change, the new hang higher

Radiant like the ideas they represent

red, blue, black, whatever pleases

It all turns to grey when the hangman's hatch descends

A new day and a new standard hung high

For nine other men the end is pretty nigh

Doomed for paying homage to what befell

Those men who perished at the hangman's spell

Hatches opened one by one

Ropes sprung tight as all nine swung along

The flock cheeered in unison song

In gracious sympathy for all the nine had wronged