The axe was sharp, and heavy as lead,
As it touched the neck, off went the head!
Whir―whir―whir―whir!
Queen Anne laid her white throat upon the block,
Quietly waiting the fatal shock;
The axe it severed it right in twain,
And so quick―so true―that she felt no pain.
Whir―whir―whir―whir!
Salisbury's countess, she would not die
As a proud dame should―decorously.
Lifting my axe, I split her skull,
And the edge since then has been notched and dull.
Whir―whir―whir―whir!
Queen Catherine Howard gave me a fee, ―
A chain of gold―to die easily:
And her costly present she did not rue,
For I touched her head, and away it flew!
Whir―whir―whir―whir!
この
The axe was sharp, and heavy as lead,
As it touched the neck, off went the head!
Whir―whir―whir―whir!
Queen Anne laid her white throat upon the block,
Quietly waiting the fatal shock;
The axe it severed it right in twain,
And so quick―so true―that she felt no pain.
Whir―whir―whir―whir!
Salisbury's countess, she would not die
As a proud dame should―decorously.
Lifting my axe, I split her skull,
And the edge since then has been notched and dull.
Whir―whir―whir―whir!
Queen Catherine Howard gave me a fee, ―
A chain of gold―to die easily:
And her costly present she did not rue,
For I touched her head, and away it flew!
Whir―whir―whir―whir!
I had thought to translate all this, but it didn't go as hoped, and I feared it was too cumbersome, so I gave it up.
Regarding the scene with the two princes and the scene of Jane's execution, I should express my gratitude to the renowned painter Delaroche, whose works assisted my imagination in no small measure.
Among the prisoners disembarking from boats is one called Wyatt. This is the son of the famous poet, who summoned up troops on Jane's behalf. I mention this here because he shares his father's name, and the two are easily confused.
In order to invoke in the reader a sense of the Tower and its presence, I thought it necessary to describe it herein in some detail. At any rate, though, my purpose in touring the Tower lay not in such writing, and with the passing of months and years it's hard anymore for me to picture the place with clarity. As a result, I may be prone to subjectivity and repetition, and I wonder if some readers won't at times be put off. That being said, what I've written is what I've written.