Edith Thompson

Sedated bound

Hand and foot

And carried to the gallows

Noosed and dropped

Disposed of

Edith Thompsons’s sorrows

 

A snooty judge

A gentleman

Voices nausea and contempt

At love letters from the woman

To her lover sent

 

The jury finds her guilty

Though evidence there is none

Edith the flighty woman

Is banished from the sun

 

Now pardon is our seeking

Declare her innocent

And God forgive us for our sin

Of cruel banishment

 

Brian Fahy

10 January 2023

 

+ It is a hundred years ago that Edith Thompson was sent to the gallows, judged complicit in the murder of her husband, on very flimsy evidence. The story highlights the cruelty of the death penalty and the dangerous power of public opinion and prejudice.