Page:The Fall of the Alamo.djvu/231

 I, too, have sinned, have wronged my fellow-men, Have raged against my kindred and myself. But though All-gracious Heaven may deem my throes And gloomy bondage full atonement's price For what my waywardness has brought about, I must do more; my honor and my fame I must restore before my countrymen. And in sublimity of earthly record Become a fit companion to the souls Of my beloved ones 'mid celestial spheres. This done I fain will yield my parting breath, And find my brightest triumph in my death, While, tyrant, thou shalt live to contemplate Thy shattered power and to bewail thy fate. Yes, I must die, will die, though God forbid, That I enlist my hand to end my life; For so much I have learned in that poor school Which I must call my sorrowful career. That one offence 'gainst Nature's ordinance Cannot be remedied by still another. As at the evening of some dismal day, The radiant sun from the horizon's brink Once more will clothe the somber firmament With purplish-golden hues, before he sets— I, too, will crown my ill-spent, wayward life By one bright deed, one bliss-conferring act The proverb's truth: All's well that endeth well. Be demonstrated in my funeral knell.