Hangman (1964)

[Music] into our town the hangman came smelling of gold and blood and Flame and he paced our bricks with a diffident air and built his frame on the Courthouse Square the scaffold stood by the courthouse side only as wide as the door was wide a frame as tall or little more than the capping sill of the courthouse door and we wondered whenever we had the time who the criminal what the crime the hangman judged with a yellow Twist of have noded hemp in his busy Fist and innocent though we were with Dread we passed those eyes of Buckshot lead till one cried hangman who is he for whom you raised the gallows tree then a twinkle grew in The Buckshot eye and he gave us a riddle instead of reply he who serves me best said he shall earn the Rope on the gallows tree [Music] and he stepped down and laid his hand on a man who came from another land and we breathed again for another's grief at The Hangman's hand was our relief and The Gallows frame on the courthouse lawn by tomorrow's son would be struck and gone so we gave him way and spoke out of respect for his Hangman's cloak the next day sun looked mildly down on roof and Street in our quiet town and Stark and black in the morning air the gallows tree on the courthouse Square and the hangman stood at his usual stand with a yellow hemp in his busy hand with his Buckshot eye and his jaw like a pike and his air so knowing and businesslike and we cried hangman have you not done yesterday with the alien one then we fell silent and stood amazed oh not for him was The Gallows raised he laughed a laugh as he looked at us did you think I'd gone to all this fuss to hang one man that's the thing I'd do to stretch the Rope when the Rope is new above our silence a voice cried shame and into our midst the hangman came to that man's place do you hold said he with him that was meat for the gallows tree and he laid his hand on that one arm and we shrank back in quick alarm and we gave him way and no one spoke out of the fear of his Hangman's cloak that night we saw with Dread surprise The Hangman's scaffold had grown in size fed by the blood beneath the Chute the gallows tree had taken root now as wide or a little more than the steps that led to the courthouse door as tall as the writing or nearly as tall halfway up on the courthouse [Music] wall the third he took we had all heard tell was a usurer and Infidel and what said the hangman have you to do with the Gallows bound and he a Jew and we cried out is this one he who has served you well and Faithfully the hangman smiled it's a clever scheme to try the Str of The Gallows beam the fourth man's dark accusing song had scratched our comfort hard and long and what concern he gave us back have you for the doomed the doomed and black the fifth the sixth and we cried again hangman hangman is this the man it's a trick brick he said that we hangmen know for easing the Trap when the Trap Springs slow and so we ceased and asked no more as the hangman tallied his bloody score and Sun by Sun and Night by Night The Gallows grew to monstrous height the wings of the scaffold opened wide till they covered the Square from side to side and the monster Cross Beam Looking Down cast its shadow across the town [Music] then through the town the hangman came and called in the empty streets my name and I looked at the Gallows soaring tall and thought there's no one left at all for hanging and so he called to me to help pull down the gallows tree and I went out with right good hope to The Hangman's Tree in The Hangman's rope he smiled at me as I came down to the courthouse Square through the silent town and SLE and stretched in his busy hand was the yellow Twist of the hempen Strand and he whistled his tune as he tried the Trap and it sprang down with a ready snap and then with a smile of awful command and he laid his hand upon my my hand you tricked me hangman I shouted then that your scaffold was built for other men and I no henchmen of yours I cried you lied to me hangman fly lied then a twinkle grew in The Buckshot eye lied to you tricked you he said not I for I answered straight I told you true the scaffold was raised for none but you for who has served more Faithfully than you with your cowards hope said he and where are the others that might have stood Side by your side than the common good dead I answered and amiably murdered the hangman corrected me first the alien then the Jew I did no more than you let me do beneath the beam that blocked the sky none had stood so alone as I and the hangman strapped me and no voice there cried stay for me the empty [Music] [Music] Square e [Music] [Music]