Saturn's Children

A Poem by Casey Truax

Villanelle on the French Revolution.

"Like Saturn, the Revolution devours its children."
-Jacques Mallet du Pan

Saturn's children, do not weep,
For it says above the graveyard gate
That death is a dreamless sleep.

The ancient chains you tried to sweep
Still bear on us their weary weight
But Saturn's children do not weep;

The guillotine came down to reap
The stillborn seedlings of the state
Whose death is a dreamless sleep.

Your love of virtue ran too deep
And good intentions paved your fate
But Saturn's children do not weep,

Or loving life, you held your heap
Of crystal glass and silver plate
For death is a dreamless sleep.

You were led to slaughter like a sheep
Before a crowd that cried with hate,
But Saturn's children do not weep
For death is a dreamless sleep.