Sad Winter weeps, his tears bedew thy grave, <br />That grave on which no kindred sorrows flow; <br />The wailing winds around it moan and rave, <br />Oh! lonely grave, where mourners never go! <br /> <br /> <br />Thy mangled form, wrapped in its bloody shroud, <br />Forgotten lies; few hearts, few eyes, will melt <br />For thee, poor victim. The press-ridden crowd <br />Have for thy cruel fate small pity felt. <br /> <br /> <br />O night of horror, when the murder fiend <br />Hacked out thy life, and revelled in thy gore; <br />With felon hand thy wardrobe's treasures gleaned, <br />And left her bloody footprints on the floor! <br /> <br /> <br />Yet heaven and earth were stirred, regions beneath <br />Were moved t' avert the proven murderer's doom; <br />Sensation journals, libellous in their wrath <br />'Gainst law and justice, foam, and rave, and fume. <br /> <br /> <br />The eye of Heaven beheld the fearful deed, <br />The ear of Heaven received the victim's cry; <br />'Tis Heaven's command, let earth give rev'rent heed, <br />The murder prove, and let the murderer die. <br /> <br /> <br />Nay, though another should have shared the guilt <br />Of this most foul and most ferocious deed, <br />Yet she is guilty of the blood thus spilt- <br />Justice accepts no offering in her stead. <br /> <br /> <br />Rest, murdered Jessie, on thy lowly grave <br />Shall ne'er be writ the branded felon's doom; <br />Rest thou in peace, though madmen storm and rave, <br />Thou hear'st them not-peace shades thy lonely tomb.<br /><br />Janet Hamilton<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/dirge-for-jessie-macpherson/
