No sound came from the corridor.
A cat walked over the scaffold floor.

Then on the stone the footsteps beating,
And out of the dark a voice, repeating:

— O my Creator, wash me whole!
God have mercy upon my soul! —

Into the daylight dank and dim
Shuffling he came, as they guided him

Nearer and nearer to his atoning.
And ever the droning, the droning, the droning:

— God of the Spirit! Christ of the Tree!
Have mercy, have mercy, have mercy on me! —

They buckled the straps, they fastened the hood.
Oh, the muffled voice that came as it could!
. . . . . . . . . .

The windows wept in a drizzling rain.
The cat came sauntering back again.