My Court Case

 

 

I sat in a court

Full of my peers,

Acquaintances, church brethren

And family were there,

 

A case called to decide

Whether I was crazy or not,

Please don’t be in a hurry

To determine my lot.

 

It was no one off incident

The prosecutor said

And I turned to see everyone

Nodding his head.

 

Up and down they nodded

Not left to right

And I recognized the magnitude

Of this legal fight.

 

I was unrepresented

So I was on my own

But I intended to fight it

Though all alone.

 

 

“For what am I being charged?”

I asked in my defense,

“For being crazy,”

This was the prosecutor’s offense.

 

“How can that be?”

I asked with incredulity,

Then pointed to all in court

And asked why only me.

 

“The mere fact of this case

Says the law must be crazy,

A court full of crazy people

And you charge only me.”

 

The judge tapped his gavel

On the table in front

And then complimented me

For making that point.

 

The prosecutor was enraged

And called the judge crazy

And the next thing I know

The court was in a frenzy.

 

 

“Order in the court!”

The judge called again and again

And when order was restored

He said, “You are all insane.”

 

During all of this racket

I was as quiet as can be

Whereupon the judge shouted out,

“You are all crazy!”

 

The prosecutor told the judge

“You should be on trial,”

And that’s when I observed

That they were both in denial.

 

The judge charged the prosecutor

For contempt of court,

The prosecutor shouted, “I appeal!

You got to be making sport.”

 

I sat there in court

With all these mad people at large,

The judge included

And I was the only one charged.

 

You must now be thinking

“What can this outcome be?”

What is there to think about?

They exonerated me.

 

Just my brief submission

Introduced by a single question,

And even the judge

Should be charge with dereliction.

 

 

“For what am I being charged?”

That is all I had asked

And that question alone

Had ripped off their masks.

 

I took over the bench

And reprimanded that court

For wasting my time

And making mock sport.

 

So all who think I am crazy

Examine yourself!

Mine is out in the open

But you operate with stealth.

 

Stewart Russell © September 2019