The Trial Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABCDEF GHIJKCCL MNOPQ RAAS TUKHVWAXY ZMMM A2B2XC2| During his great speech the prosecutor | A |
| kept piercing me with his yellow index finger | A |
| I'm afraid I didn't appear self assured | B |
| unintentionally I put on a mask of fear and depravity | C |
| like a rat caught in a trap an informer a fratricide | D |
| the reporters were dancing a war dance | E |
| slowly I burned at a stake of magnesia | F |
| - | |
| all of this took place in a small stifling room | G |
| the floor creaked plaster fell from the ceiling | H |
| I counted knots in the boards holes in the wall faces | I |
| the faces were alike almost identical | J |
| policemen the tribunal witnesses the audience | K |
| they belonged to the party of those without any pity | C |
| and even my defender smiling pleasantly | C |
| was an honorary member of the firing squad | L |
| - | |
| in the first row sat an old fat woman | M |
| dressed up as my mother with a theatrical gesture she raised | N |
| a handkerchief to her dirty eyes but didn't cry | O |
| it must have lasted a long time I don't know even how long | P |
| the red blood of the sunset was rising in the gowns of the judges | Q |
| - | |
| the real trial went on in my cells | R |
| they certainly knew the verdict earlier | A |
| after a short rebellion they capitulated and started to die one after the other | A |
| I looked in amazement at my wax fingers | S |
| - | |
| I didn't speak the last word and yet | T |
| for so many years I was composing the final speech | U |
| to God to the court of the world to the conscience | K |
| to the dead rather than the living | H |
| roused to my feet by the guards | V |
| I managed only to blink and then | W |
| the room burst out in healthy laughter | A |
| my atoptive mother laughed also | X |
| the gavel banged and this really was the end | Y |
| - | |
| but what happened after that death by a noose | Z |
| or perhaps a punishment generously chained to a dungeon | M |
| I m afraid there is a third dark solution | M |
| beyond the limits of time the senses and reason | M |
| - | |
| therefore when I wake I don't open my eyes | A2 |
| I clench my fingers don't lift my head | B2 |
| breathe lightly because truly I don't know | X |
| how many minutes of air I still have left | C2 |
Zbigniew Herbert
(1)
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