Off with their heads! Off with their heads!
Bring on the notorious Beheading Machine!
Cleaner and more efficient than an ax.
In seconds the head cleaved from the body.
Kinder than the Breaking Wheel, quicker,
less painful too. Named after a doctor,
Dr. Joseph-Ingace Guillotin, who ironically
was opposed to the death penatly.
Curious it was named after him, perhaps
the French thought his name had
a perfect diabolical right to it: Guillotine!
Why the French put n e on the end of his name
for this diabolic machine, I know not.
But it does sound fancier, more memorable.
The real inventor’s name, Dr. Antoine Louis,
just wouldn’t do, too bland, less dramatic.
Guillotine. Guillotine. Monstrous machine.

Bob Boyd