Don’t Blame the Law

 

 

 

The legal luminary convinced the judge

That what was not; was

And what was; was not,

And did it so cleverly

That the verdict he got.

 

Don’t blame the law

Especially when its English is clear,

Might is the real power,

And at most times, unfair.

 

The framers of the law

Did not always get it right

And often amendments had to be made

Following their lack of foresight.

 

When an occasion arose

That revealed there was a short coming

Sessions were convened

To address what was lacking.

 

 

You see, God is the only Supreme

With all sufficient knowledge

But man works from the back-end

And is not so privileged.

 

We may have a Supreme Court

But it is not supreme,

For higher than our local court

We have the court of the Caribbean.

 

Here of late

I have been particularly confused,

If it were just a debate

I would have been totally amused…

 

But it was a serious matter

Though some did not think it so

But then again gravity only arrests them

That happen to know.

 

A Senate was constituted

That was different from the norm,

It was three-short of its complement

Hence, not fully formed.

 

However, it was argued

That there was nothing wrong

And the law appeared to disappear

And the challenge less strong. 

 

“Shall be” meant “may be”

And the word “vacancy” was stretched

And in the end, it appeared

The law was the wretch.

 

 

Who could argue the best;

It often comes down to that test

And the benchmark is rearranged

To effect the needed change.

 

The matter was thus decided

Not on what in the law was written

But by the Justice on the bench

And that makes me frighten.

 

So, we do what we want to do

And make the law fall in line,

We complicate straightforward English

And accept what is opined.

 

And so, the gavel comes down

Against the written law

And the Justice on the bench

Is deemed without flaw.

 

The law does not sentence a man;

It is the magistrate or judge

And I have no doubt in some cases

The matter is prejudged.

 

 

Some are fought in the media

And in the public domain

Such that sometimes even with a jury

Transparency is not sustained.

  

Don’t blame the law

Especially when its English is clear,

Oversight can be its own opposite;

To me that is not fair.

 

Stewart Russell © March 16, 2022