The First Stone

 

 

Not a foundation stone

Or a corner stone

But the first stone that one throws

In his act to condemn a soul

That acted without his zone.

 

We are the jury

And we are the judge

And we also determine the verdict,

The sentence we must carry out

And only when it’s done, we will quit.

 

 

With a strong bias

And an ethnic prejudice

We decide who is to be stoned

And so, with that, we take careful aim,

For we don’t intend to miss.

 

But to make it all legal

And at least looking right,

We will consult an independent source

So that that first stone can be ours

And we’ll throw it with telling force.

 

But it may be legal

And it may be right

And the first stone may be ours to throw,

But not at the victim we intend

For we might be just as low. 

 

Let him that is without sin

The Master had said,

Let him cast the first stone,

But they envisaged the boomerang effect;

They were all in the hitting zone.

 

With tail between their legs

They did begrudgingly leave,

They were as guilty as she was too,

For only one is without any sin

And it’s neither me nor you.

 

So, if you want

To cast the first stone

Do be prepared to die,

For to stone someone is to stone yourself

And that you can never deny.

 

Stewart Russell © April 2020