Farewell Socrates

Farewell Socrates

"The time has come to take the cup"
And so saying, Socrates did sup
Of the hemlock, once Plato’s friend,
But now farewells at appointed end;
A sense of ending, of a life cut short:
What can we do, and what we ought;
A debate of a life, questions, dialogue,
As Socrates tried to peer through fog,
And make plain the follies of mankind,
Opening the eyes of those so blind;
They did not think, but merely act:
Would he cease, desist or retract?
Not him, and so time came for death:
The hemlock brings a chill breath
Of mortality; easier by far this way
Than judicial alternatives hold sway:
Sword, dagger, hangman’s noose,
A vote for death, no parlay, truce,
So the cup, slipped slowly down;
Was that a last smile, or a frown
“Crito, I owe to Asclepius, my praise”
As breath grew shallow, eyes glaze;
No more the debates to so delight,
As he goes forth into that dark night.