A reproduction in verse of the novel THE SCARLET LETTER by Nathaniel Hawthorne
I saw a woman standing still,
She wore an “A” against her will.
Her eyes were shining like the stars,
A child was crying in her arms.
Her beauty I cannot recall,
But she was brunette, gentle, tall.
A drop of sorrow washed her face
But she was clad with pride and grace.
And on the scaffold, like a witch—
She let the thoughtless judges preach.
Some ugly faces from the crowd,
As if they all were made of mud
Revealed her shameful name aloud
The mass was angry, she was proud.
Then like a prayer for a Queen
I slowly murmured “Hester Prynne.”
They punished you for lust and sin.
The Scarlet A was meant to clean
Your poor heart, your dreaming mind
Your love, that used to be so blind.
She was a statue made of chaos,
The judges tortured her for hours.
“You can not leave your past behind!
Who is the father of your child?!
Tell us or live your shameful life
And answer now, relieve your strife!”
She could resist the blaming flow,
Her answer to the judge was—“No!”
Among the crowd, was standing still
A man who wished to nag and thrill
The father of that poor child,
And his revenge was bitter wild!
His maddened face was hidden well,
His heart was darker than the hell.
And overfilled with rage and wrath
Stepped forward Roger Chillingworth.
When Hester saw this awful man
That came to torture her again,
She shuddered like an autumn flower
Her happiness with him was sour.
She was a rosebush by the prison
Her life was lacking love and reason.
The only treasure in the world
Was little baby sent by God.
A handsome judge was looking pale,
His name was Arthur Dimmesdale.
He could not send this wife to jail!
His poor soul was numb and weak,
He knew the truth, but wouldn’t speak.
An angel winked from blissful skies,
He knew the man was sunk in lies.
A reverend can fall in love?
Sarcastic humor from above…
But passion flourished in a girl
And Hester said her name was Pearl.
Pearl was the scarlet A in person,
A flower bud in plenty blossom.
A tender drop of poisoned wine
Spilt on a sinful scarlet sign.
The nature was her open book
Pearl kissed the flowers by the brook.
She heard the whispers of the birds,
And spoke to creatures in her words.
She was the child of the forest—
The crimson A, but pure, honest.
……………………………………
What does the vicious symbol mean?
Adultery—eternal sin?
I saw it on the Hester’s skin
I felt it crawling in her veins
I knew she wore the scarlet chains.
But who is guilty, we are human!
And God created man and woman
To love each other under stars
Like all the human kind does!
But Puritans who worship pain
Succumb to judgment and disdain,
Then seek the truth with dirty hands
And chase the fate like hungry rats.
They punish people like the kings
For normal, common, healthy things!
But can they give a true solution
For Hester’s tears on the cushion?!
For all the pain and sleepless nights
Inside the Pearl’s and Arthur’s hearts?!
I saw them all, I heard them pray
I was among the crowd that day.
I kissed the little Pearl so tender
And wrote this poem to remember.
Then like a ghost I flew away…
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