Christina Rossetti — In The Round Tower At Jhansi June 8 1857

        A hundred, a thousand to one; even so;                 Not a hope in the world remained:         The swarming, howling wretches below                 Gained and gained and gained.         Skene looked at his pale young wife:--                 "Is the time come?"--"The time is come!"--         Young, strong, and so full of life:                 The agony struck them dumb.         Close his arm about her now,                 Close her cheek to his,         Close the pistol to her brow--                 God forgive them this!         "Will it hurt much?"--"No, mine own:                 I wish I could bear the pang for both."         "I wish I could bear the pang alone:                 Courage, dear, I am not loth."         Kiss and kiss: "It is not pain                 Thus to kiss and die.         One kiss more."--"And yet one again."--                 "Good by."--"Good by."         Note.--I retain this little poem, not as historically accurate, but as written and published before I heard the supposed facts of its first verse contradicted.