{"id":1026,"date":"2012-07-23T12:24:13","date_gmt":"2012-07-23T11:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1026"},"modified":"2012-07-23T12:24:13","modified_gmt":"2012-07-23T11:24:13","slug":"mcgladderys-last-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1026","title":{"rendered":"McGladdery’s Last Night"},"content":{"rendered":"

McGladdery\u2019s Last Night<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mid-winter-a few short days to Yuletide
\nLies back upon a single bunk and stares at a grimy mottled ceiling
\nHands behind head\u2014a now familiar pose\u2014practised often lately
\nThinking of a night eleven months ago\u2014and recalling evil feelings.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The pipes emit a little warmth-enough to repel the chill,
\nof a cell that has housed only sixteen other kindred souls–
\nthose who have trod the same ingrained landings\u2014and took
\nthe few faltering steps into the chamber while the death bell tolls.<\/p>\n

Mother came earlier but talk was hard to find
\nThe reverend Vance tried his best to shine an everlasting light–
\nAn occasional turnkey lifted up the hatch to peer at this damned being—
\nfive months since the last one dangled on a July morn so bright.<\/p>\n

Silence in these last few breathing hours will compress a mind
\nthat needs to communicate\u2014to unburden his core of this terrible guilt-
\n-a need to tell it how it was\u2014open up his black heart-unburden himself
\ndischarge that coldness and emancipate for a young girls lifeblood spilled.<\/p>\n

A light that won\u2019t go out\u2014the constant checks to ensure he remains alive
\nuntil a prearranged eradicator comes to dispatch him well–
\nthe early morning stirrings\u2014the dark dawn scrapes and shuffles from the landing
\n\u201cC\u201d wing comes awake in anticipation of the dreaded tolling bell.<\/p>\n

No more sleep\u2014a succession of governors and hangers-on arrive,
\nto offer bogus sympathy and to have a long last look and shake their heads,
\nand give him one more chance to confess to killing Pearl,
\nto offer up his spirit, to wipe his conscience clean and be free from dread.<\/p>\n

Gruel and bread and margarine the fare to send him on his way,
\na clamour from the walkways heralds another dismal dreary Crumlin day–
\nThe door opens and Mister Vance approaches once again\u2014one last chance,
\nto make public what he has hidden\u00a0 from that January night in Upper Damolly.<\/p>\n

Seven o\u2019clock and the fellow inmates are returned once more to cells,
\na lock down in the countdown to the dead man about to walk,
\nRobert\u2019s responsibility has been relieved to the chaplain of the jail
\nthe\u00a0 final precious minutes are sliding swiftly from the clock.<\/p>\n

An entourage arrives\u2014solemn looking men-and usher him toward the hanging cell,
\nto meet Harry Allen\u2014his dapper bow tied nemesis\u2014holding leather straps\u2014he of
\ntwenty nine other legal lynchings and many collaborations in the past,
\nwhose bryllcremed hair will be the last prison smell before the dreaded drop.<\/p>\n

We are all condemned persons in the eyes of the God, Vance had explained–
\nalthough of little consolation to Robert now, as the hood enfolds his head,
\nHarry encircles his neck\u2014expertly\u2014with the calculated length of rope-steps back
\npulls the lever and at eight a.m. drops McGladdery\u2014and waits\u2014until he is pronounced\u2014dead.
\n\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

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