This is now my favorite, if only because it's not another poem about old people or people getting old. Six of eight so far, and I'm including the internet poem because the narrator's attitude is so obviously old ("these darn kids and their devices! get off my digital lawn!").
The language is great, and I really like the repeated "Let it." The author might have made L5 another "Let it" line as well as the last to create an entire new form: a refrain sonnet. I'm going to try one of those myself. I especially like the "crescent moons" image.
I have a problem with the historical details in the first stanza. Executions, historically, were public affairs, meant to reinforce the power of the state, restore justice, offer a moral lesson and entertain. So witches weren't burned in the forest, and queens, with the rare of exception of Czarina Alexandra, didn't die in cellars. They were held in the public square or some other prominent place. Only today, where execution has become a largely secret, medical event to mask the absolute shame of it, would these details be accurate.
I have no problem with epigraphs, but I see no need for this one, which was cribbed from David Wilton's WORD MYTHS along with several other entries and sent around as an email a decade ago, which cheapens it for me. See:
http://bit.ly/17nsmXr for the Wilton. And Snopes on that email:
http://www.snopes.com/language/phrases/1500.asp