Mary Dyer

Truth Is My Authority, The Ballad of Mary Dyer
Lorcan Otway with grammatical corrections by Richard Accetta Evans.


Dear Friends I pray ye now lay down the comber of discord and thy fears' dark snare
and join me as I muse upon our sister Mary Dyer her story I'll now share

She said, the Truth is my authority, truth is my authority,
and authority is not the truth and thy fearful threats can n'er convince me.



For in the year sixteen and fifty eight in Boston town, we Quakers faced great strife
Friend Mary Dyer would not be moved to abandon God to save her very life

She said, the Truth is my authority, truth is my authority,
and authority is not the truth and thy fearful threats can n'er convince me.

Though thee put thy noose about my neck one time before I'll not heed thy tyrant's cause
For I harken to that still small voice which compelleth my soul despite thy bloody laws

She said, the Truth is my authority, truth is my authority,
and authority is not the truth and thy fearful threats can n'er convince me.

If thy faith cannot keepsake thy soul absent the scaffold, scourge or pillory
I'll obey my master's gentle voice which called forth all earth and proclaimed eternity


For the Truth is my authority, truth is my authority,
and authority is not the truth and thy fearful threats can n'er convince me.

Though thou forgest Irons for my limbs and buildest jails to entomb my corporal frame
My soul soareth free from all thy chains and a child of light I'll be and will remain

She said, the Truth is my authority, truth is my authority,
and authority is not the truth and thy fearful threats can n'er convince me.


They hanged her for her bravery, her unbroken faith and unbending dignity
So I'd have thee weigh thy every cause by the light of her courage and her certainty

Let the Truth be thy authority, truth be thy authority,
for authority is not the truth and all fearful threats let n'er convince thee.