Poem by Sir Walter Raleigh

In a final letter to his wife before his execution Sir Walter Raleigh apparently wrote these sound words quoted in Aberystwyth this evening by Bill Bygroves

From thence to Heaven's bribeless hall,

Where no corrupted voices brawl,-

No conscience molten into gold;

No forged accuser bought or sold;

No cause deferr'd, no vain-spent journey,

For there Christ is the king s attorney;

Who pleads for all without degrees,—

And he hath angels - but no fees.

And when the grand twelve-million jury

Of our sins, with direful fury,

'Gainst our souls black verdicts give,

Christ pleads his death; and then we live.

Be Thou my speaker, taintless pleader,

Unblotted lawyer, true proceeder!

Thou givest salvation even for alms,

Not with a bribed lawyer's palms.

Then this is mine eternal plea,

To him that made heaven, earth, and sea;

Seeing my flesh must die so soon,

And want a head to dine next noon,

Just at the stroke of death, my arms being spread,

Set on my soul an everlasting head,

So shall I ready, like a palmer fit,

Tread those blessed paths shown in thy Holy Writ.