5
To atone for blood I never shed,
In midst of youth and bloom,
I to the fatal scaffold led,
Must meet the murderer’s doom.
And while I stand exposed there,
Before the knot is tied,
My innocence I will declare
To all the world beside.
Farewell my aged mother dear,
Your tender heart is broke;
Alas ! you’ll never live I fear,
To bear this cruel stroke.
What would your tender bosom feel,
To see your darling child,
That you had nourish’d at your breast,
Brought to an end so vile.
Before my eyes are clos’d I pray,
And Heaven my prayers hear,
My innocence may be reveal’d,
And be as noon day clear.
And bring the hand to light,
Who did the horrid deed,
That all may know poor Mary Thompson
Was innocent indeed.
She met her ignominious death,
Resign’d to her hard fate,
But scarce had yielded up her breath,
When awful to relate,
A man confess’d unto the crime,
For which the maiden died,
And now in irons he is confined,
His trial to abide.
