I came to you on the day of your execution. |
I, Crito I came to you on the day of your execution and begged of you, dear friend, to escape the sentence which had been laid upon your head. Meletus is a wrongful accuser and the jurors, too thick headed and dense to know they put a good and just man to death. I came to you on the day of your execution and you laid your brittle, aged hand upon my shoulder thinking it was I who needed the comfort. You rose your chin and with the voice I’d made my drug from the very first moment you spoke, you told me you were going to die. I came to you on the day of your execution and learned the final lesson you would teach your disciples; and that lesson was courage. For when you sipped from a cup the hemlock that was to be your death, you did so smiling and without hesitation or fear or regret. I came to you on the day of your execution and watched you walk until your feet went cold. We laid you down and you spoke quietly of the poison in your veins as it made its way to your groin. Phaedo held you as you asked me to take care of your debts; even in death you cared. I came to you on the day of your execution and cried as I asked if there were other matters you needed taken care of and you remained silent as you would in life for all eternity. You teach your lessons now in the underworld and discuss politics with Homer and your other beloved poets. I came to you on the day of your execution asking you to do a great injustice to the cause you’d spent your whole life teaching to the youth of Athens. Forgive me, my dearest Socrates, for asking this injustice of you. I knew not of the ways of the courageous, for I would have bowed to cowardice. Written for "Gangsta's Paradise Contest" by Gaby ~ Finding my way back . This poem is about the great philosopher, Socrates, and written from the viewpoint of Crito who was his friend and student. |