Poem Written to his Jailer

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Poem Written to his Jailer (1885)
by Louis Riel

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Revolutionary Métis leader Louis Riel wrote a great deal of amateur politically charged poetry in French. This work, written to one of his jailers prior to his execution, was one of the few works he composed in English.

76197Poem Written to his Jailer1885Louis Riel

Robert Gordon!
I beg you pardon
For so having
Kept you waiting
After some poor verses of mine.
You know, my english is not fine.
I speak it; but only
Very imperfectly.

The snow
Which renders the ground all white,
From heaven, comes here below:
Its pine frozen drops invite
Us all
To white-keep your thoughts and our acts,
So that when our bodies do fall,
Our merits, before God, be facts.

How many who, with good desires,
Have died and lost their souls to fires?
Good desires kept unpractic’d
Stand, before God, unnotic’d

O Robert, Let us be fond
Of Virtue! Virtues abound
In every sort of good.
Let virtue be our soul’s food!

Louis “David” Riel.

October 27th 1885.
Regina Jail.

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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