Beyond these bluestone walls

A Rondeau


Beyond these bluestone walls, they tell
Of men condemned to living hell
And those who walked toward the rope
To end their lives, bereft of hope
Priest's words lost to the tolling bell.


Unto these men, a fate befell;
From social change; a new artel
That meant not one would e'er elope
Beyond these bluestone walls.

For into each and every cell
The voyeurs came, and paid quite well
To peer and pry, to interlope
And place beneath a microscope
Poor wretches all, who once did dwell
Beyond these bluestone walls.


~ Merlene Fawdry 2011