A Popular Name

 

 

I remember my school days

Not so very long ago,

Lots of things I have forgotten

But somethings I still know.

 

Not me is one of them

You would hear it every day,

As boys we were often up to mischief

And not me we would say.

 

Who was talking in the class?

Not me would be the reply,

Who stole the missing pencil?

Not me would be the lie.

 

An entire class with one name

Not me was that appellation,

So many boys with this name

Was surely beyond comprehension.

 

Even when the culprit was seen

He still would plea not me

And since not me was everyone

He could not be found guilty.

 

Well, at least not him alone

Since everybody was guilty,

Not me could never be punished

Since not me was everybody.

 

Maybe, it’s “hiding in a crowd”

Like people are wont to do,

How can you tell who’s done it?

Not me is also not you.

Not me has another slant

Which has to do with the exception,

Everybody must comply with the rule

Except the not me appellation.

 

Different strokes for different folks

Or perhaps, par for the course,

For every rule there is an exception

Sometimes it is even worse.

 

Under no condition whatever

Should anyone be allowed to pass

But it does not apply to not me,

Not me is in a special class.

 

And the lengths to which we go

To vindicate not me

Bearing in mind, of course,

The guilty is innocent until proven guilty.

 

Not me though guilty is innocent

And invariably wins each case,

After all, that is to be expected

Since the law can be two-faced.

 

The court says you must pay

But not me says not me,

From whom will you extract the charge?

Not me is somebody.

 

Somebody big and important

That is who is not me,

It would be better to leave this matter alone

And enter a not guilty plea.

Sometimes not me is nobody

Sometimes not me is somebody

But whether somebody or nobody

Not me is never guilty.

 

Sometimes not me is everybody

That is the not me in the crowd,

But the not me that can’t be touched

Is the not me that’s large and loud.

 

That’s the not me with power

And the not me that has position,

That’s not the not me that hides

But the not me that makes decisions.

 

Who is responsible for this poem?

The answer to that is not me,

Not me is the person now reading it

Not guilty as charged; you are free.

 

Stewart Russell © May 2020