A Flaw in Our Judicial System



Accusing me of being a thief,
I denied the act and sought relief
from a group of my peers;
scalawags, robbers,
burglars, and other mal-contents
chosen for jury-duty without my consent.

"Deadlocked!" came the jury's reply,
the wise, old judge then asked "Why?"

"We can't tell the truth from a lie," said
the foreman.

"Well, hell!" said the judge, "Neither
can I.  But go back in there and deliberate
this man's fate.  We ain't got all day to wait."

"Why can't we just flip a coin, your Honor?"

"Well, don't look at me, I don't have one
for you to use," said the judge, as he turned
toward the crowd looking for a donor.

No one rose for the occassion,
so I reached into my pocket and tossed
a coin to the judge,
not realizing it was of great value,
collectable,
antiquited and obscure, rare
as a hen's golden tooth,
stolen from the victim
and part of the loot.

"Never mind" said the judge
to the jury,  "It suddenly appears
that the accused has volunteered
to plead for mercy from this court."

The court finds him " Guilty -
by reason of insanity,
with a year-to-serve-and-ponder
the error of his ways
and the court imposes a token fine
to re-imburse this court
for its time and expense,

Thus, this court is now dismissed!"
as he pocketed the quarter
that I haven't seen since.

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Submitted on September 05, 2013

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:12 min read
1

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABXXX CC XD EXX E DXE DXFXCXXXX FBXG HHEXXGX XEX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,236
Words 242
Stanzas 10
Stanza Lengths 6, 2, 2, 3, 1, 3, 9, 4, 7, 3

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    "A Flaw in Our Judicial System" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/64291/a-flaw-in-our-judicial-system>.

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