Part xi (the hanging song) lyrics

Artist  : Fairport convention 
Song : Part xi (the hanging song)
 
Wake up John, it's time to go              Come
along John and don't be slow
Come along John, don't be slow             Wake
up John, it's time to go
Wake up John, it's time to go
A priest joins the procession just to help me
kneel
With a warder at my elbow and another at my heel
Marching in the morning down a path I've lately
seen
I was sleeping in this garden, am I still within
my dream?
The echo of my heartbeat is the beating of a drum
And all the earth is singing with life's sweet
hum
We filed in solemn silence, shuffled through a
door
The place where life is taken for the letter of
the law
(Chorus)
Shake the holy water, summon up the guard
Dying's very easy, waiting's very hard
A rope was hanging from the roof, a sight which
puzzles me
I thought a gibbet and a guard would make a
gallows tree
But now all is revealed, stamped there is the
command
My feet are on the trapdoor with a rope around my
hand
And now the executioner is shaking hands with me
"My duty I must carry out, you poor fellow," says
he
A strap is tied around my feet and a bag upon my
head
And then the noose which separates the living
from the dead
(Chorus)
There he whispers to me "Have you anything to
say?"
My mouth is dry, my throat is tight, I answer
"Drop away"
Silence now surrounds me, my heart is beating on
The trapdoor hardly moves at all, my life is
still my own
They stand me in a corner with my hands and feet
still bound
While a carpenter is called for and an
explanation found
"The rain has warped the timbers," I hear the
hangman say
"It's funny but it worked well, I tried it
yesterday"
"All is mended now," they say, "your ordeal's
nearly over
Your life's as good as ended," but I hear their
voices waver
Once more the ?board is shaked? and again I hang
in limbo
While the guards jump on the trapdoor and my body
stands on tip-toe
(Chorus)
They stand me in a corner with my hands and feet
still ties
A warder holds onto the noose, the trapdoor opens
wide
Is it magic or coincidence that keeps me on the
brink?
It seems to work without me, "Will it kill me
now?" I think
"Please, I'm tired of living and I really want to
die"
I was taken to the scaffold and I heard the
hangman cry
"Lee, I'm truly sorry, forgive these hands of
mine"
He drew the bolt and I felt the jolt the third
and final time
My life was spared that morning 'cos it wasn't
theirs to take
Three's the ?boat? the law requires, a man could
feel the stake
(Repeat chorus)