Traitor's Fate

After reading his elegy ( Chideock Tichbourne 1563 - 1586)

i chanced upon a sombre elegy

for Babington a heavy price you paid

with eloquence your written words excel

though Elizabeth our Queen you did betray

at three and twenty birthdates you are done

your sun has set too early for your years

yet in your blood a wordsmith recognised

it was your poet soul that ushered tears

last thoughts conveyed with wisdom's tender touch

five centuries have fled your verse lives on

i do not know you for conspiracy

but love you for your dying sunset song

Reviews

[Linda Marie Van Tassell]

There is no point in freedom of speech if there is no honesty in that speech. Come what may, you must be true to yourself. To do otherwise is to sell your soul to the devil. The fact that we have a media complicit with politicians and the government to the point of suppression is the ultimate betrayal of the American people and our Constitution. I think that poets are the last of the truth seekers and truth speakers. It has always been that way. We do not write for praise nor money nor fame. We write from the soul.

[Chris Shaw]

Many thank you’s Linda for stopping by to share your thoughts on this poem. Very much appreciated.

Chris

[Lorry]

23? All I was doing when I was 23 was hurkle-durkle'ing (lying in bed hours after I woke) or maybe a spot of paredeliating (looking for faces in shapes, like clouds)
Perhaps a bit of testiculating thrown in for good measure too (throwing arms around wildly while talking bollocks)
No wonder he came a cropper. He should have had a lie-in and saved himself a major headache. 😊
Ps... My new hobby is looking for weird words I don't yet know 😊

[Chris Shaw]

Ha Lorry, sadly if he had been more like the 23 year old you, he would have saved himself a ghastly end. His elegy though, so incredibly moving. He was an educated young man and a Catholic when it was dangerous to be one. Especially one plotting against Elizabeth. MBA any thanks for checking in. Are you back to Lorry normal yet?

Chris

[Lorry]

Yes. Finally out of seclusion as of yesterday. I knew that bouncy room and wraparound coat couldn't hold me for long 🙄

[red93]

Very good Chris, and so many fabulous Poets writing in the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1 - the famous and not so famous. One Poet I particularly admire from this era, who is more famous for his Life than his Poetry, is Sir Walter Raleigh, who also died on the scaffold in an age when these cruel executions were commonplace. You have hit the heights with this one Chris definitely.

[Chris Shaw]

Thanks so much Tony. Compelled to write this after reading his elegy. Such an interesting piece of history. Life was cheap in those days and the punishments truly barbaric. I found his elegy played on my mind for a couple of days until I wrote this. Almost haunted me it did :) Pleased you enjoyed the read.

Chris

[John the Baptist]

I love it when I learn something new. I knew of Queen Elizabeth's rivalry with Mary Stuart and of Sir Francis Walsingham, but this poem was my introduction to Tichebourne and Babington. The"Elegy" is a moving piece, and Tichebourne died a ghastly death (no lethal injection in those days). I like your last verse here especially, for though he was a traitor, his words were beautiful.

[Chris Shaw]

Thank you John. Pleased this poem interested you enough to seek out more information. Yes, the elegy is one of the most moving pieces I have read. He should have spent more time writing, instead of plotting against the Queen. Must have been hell for his parents and six sisters to lose him in such a ghastly way. Also it would have put them under suspicion too. Tough and barbaric times.

Chris

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Oh so many poets died so young.
Imagine what was still within their writing souls.

this is beautiful.
j.

[Chris Shaw]

Thanks J. I was so moved by his elegy I had to Google all the history. It was fascinating. His death at 23 a great loss to the world of poetry.

Chris

[R.J Calzonetti (Siniste..]

I read it as well. Being only 24 myself, I felt the poem hit me in the gut. Anyone is candle that can go out in far less than turbulent wind, and that was one such wind. Your poem does his soul a service. Thank you for sharing your poem, and his.

[Chris Shaw]

Thank you. His elegy did the same for me. Infact I could not remove it from my mind for two days until I wrote this. Thank you for saying my poem has serviced his soul. That means a great deal. Being a Catholic at that time and plotting against the Queen was certain death.

Chris