now the judge is judged...
Tall he loomed over them
in judgment
long the pause of his thoughts
pounding the silence that held their lives in the long stale moments of limbo
they would follow each line of his face, trace every hair on his head,
search each dark fold in his robe
for sanity
pleading…
his gavel would fall with a thunderous 'crack'...
and they were judged.
A judge.
Tall, looming,
on the throne of Zeus.
but here, nature finds a way to provide a poetic justice of its own,
and the judge will be judged.
Down from the throne he is cast,
and here, naked under the burning sun, he writes…
to be judged by the judged.
A Judge in Time
Into a well of silence fell the hammer, the robe, and the spent heart of the judge.
Spun into the fabric of nature's justice they plummet into a universe of eternal time, which laughs.
Here on this spec of a planet each man owns the thinnest of this precious slice of time,
grand, magnificent, and therein lies a cornerstone in the foundation of justice-
With but one slice given to each of us, day after day I would ask myself,
“Why can’t we just see it, instead of all the blind strife, the war, the personal hell?”
It has been said a thousand times
our frames of mind are weak, so weak;
with sorrow and pain my judgment days were spent
sifting through frames come incomplete.
Those who had robbed the slice from others-
through murder, theft, or twisted fates
brought before me, one after the other,
I’d put my face, my heart, my soul in their place.
I could hear it then as I hear it now-
the murmurs in the rafters, the jury’s debates
over the guilt or innocence of each person’s life,
I would then pass sentence over the case.
I saw pleading souls through brutal eyes,
miscreants finally awake in hidden guise,
trial lawyers mocking justice
as they earn their living crafting truthful lies.
My bench I’ve splintered, my voice I’ve raised,
faces turned pale as I rued the day,
but I’ve faltered. I’m done, my slice of time spent.
Perhaps I’m a legend, I cannot turn back.
The mists of silence, the distance of days
cloud the judgments that have been passed-
judgments; judgments many, hang from my brow,
I look to time, it does not laugh.
Author notes
oops, forgot the humor!
Written July 23rd, 2006
In a list
A contest entry
- In Honor of the Teen Idol Judges by Tangled Angle.
450 points, ended August 1, 2006, 6 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
What did you think
Comments
1 - 10 of 10
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You did a great job of pulling this piece together. It is both interesting and creative.
Message: 8
Fluidity: 9
Uniqueness: 9
Title: 8
Imagery: 8
Parameters Met/Creatively Worked: 8
Enjoyment of the piece: 7
Interesting Array of Word Choice: 9
Length: 9
Format: 9
Total: 84
Good luck in the contest. Patricia -
This had CREATIVE written all over it. Good luck.
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Daddy!
wow! I like the piece! the title is sure eye catching!
As always I enjoy reading your works Dad !
s
Di
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thanks morningstar, you bring up another problem- the gap between the judge's world and the gangworld, where one is right and the other is way wrong... one is life, the other is death...
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Nice
Wow another great piece. I do like the idea and the theme. It has this new feeling to it. It also make me think of how i see people in my life. Do I judge. Well Good work -
This was a very intersting poetry. You did an
In Life there is three judges. God is judge for life of goodnesss. Hell of the devil is for Doomless life of the fire bruning your likfe away. Laughing at you for you in up being like them. The Judge of a court life is hard because he make the decision where you will go while you are alive till the final Day of judgement is made. So it is up to you to pick which way you want to go. Better yourself for heaven. Kill and mean for hell . The judge in court has to be honest and do what is right for both reason. HE is judge by poeple, God, Y The devil . He has is harder then God and the devil. THe judge has to use his life with the decision he has to make. I hope I explain it to you. This is the way of life and you are the one who make it better or a living hell. The gudge has to carried the desvision of living his life in fear of being killed by the gang of the one he put away. Are livie the way of a good life because he belive in God. -
originality is you for sure.. the judges are being judged for who and what they represent, very clever indeed, thank you for sharing, funny piece as well as unique,, good luck..MM
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Sophisticated Sophocles...! thanks for the fine comment, crisstiena, I'm glad you enjoyed this one, though it was a 4am piece. We usually like to push ourselves to a new level with each new write... but this is not one of them! This is a piece where one says, "let me take a step back and draw from what I am today." For after all, that is what should be judged!
Edited on Jul 23, 12:25 because ''. -
"Men of ill judgment oft ignore the
good that lies within their hands,
till they have lost it." • Sophocles
I really like your style and the wonderful way you always present your work. It makes for so much more interesting reading.
A prime example of what I call Good Advice to the Younger Generation - what raises this one above the common herd, I think, is the supreme quotability of the line "Down from the throne he is cast, and here, naked under the burning sun, he writes…
to be judged by the judged."
You seem to get it absolutely right, though ironically the line itself is nothing if not clever.
I also belong to the school of poetry criticism that looks for a poem's good points first, and speaks only later, if at all, of its flaws - this is, after all, about the enjoyment of poetry far more than it is about its dissection. (Which is not to say that I don't enjoy tearing into a particularly bad poem every now and then)
Thanks for sharing this.
Best wishes
~ crisstiena
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Interesting piece which I liked a lot Keep writing, I liked the narrative here
Very deep piece which I liked a lot
All the best
Pozo
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