Law Poem by gershon hepner

Law, the subject of my song,
is not either right or wrong;
it is what the judges tell
you to obey, and go to hell.

It is arbitrary, like love,
imposed by governors. The gov-
erment is what enforces it,
although its source is counterfeit.

Even when it is a king
who wrote it, it can sting
only when the lawyers read
small print that will make you plead
guilty to offenses that
you never knew that it begat;
these are nuances which
help to make all lawyers rich.

Arbitrarily, the law
imposes rules that we ignore
to our peril, so obey
what it and its small print may say,

and don’t expect love to redeem
its vagaries. It is a scheme
empowering the lawyers to
emasculate, without love, you.

Inspired by W. H. Auden’s poem, “Law, Like Love”

Law, say the gardeners, is the sun,
Law is the one
All gardeners obey
To-morrow, yesterday, to-day.

Law is the wisdom of the old,
The impotent grandfathers feebly scold;
The grandchildren put out a treble tongue,
Law is the senses of the young.

Law, says the priest with a priestly look,
Expounding to an unpriestly people,
Law is the words in my priestly book,
Law is my pulpit and my steeple.

Law, says the judge as he looks down his nose,
Speaking clearly and most severely,
Law is as I've told you before,
Law is as you know I suppose,
Law is but let me explain it once more,
Law is The Law.

Yet law-abiding scholars write:
Law is neither wrong nor right,
Law is only crimes
Punished by places and by times,
Law is the clothes men wear
Anytime, anywhere,
Law is Good morning and Good night.

Others say, Law is our Fate;
Others say, Law is our State;
Others say, others say
Law is no more,
Law has gone away.

And always the loud angry crowd,
Very angry and very loud,
Law is We,
And always the soft idiot softly Me.

If we, dear, know we know no more
Than they about the Law,
If I no more than you
Know what we should and should not do
Except that all agree
Gladly or miserably
That the Law is
And that all know this
If therefore thinking it absurd
To identify Law with some other word,
Unlike so many men
I cannot say Law is again,

No more than they can we suppress
The universal wish to guess
Or slip out of our own position
Into an unconcerned condition.
Although I can at least confine
Your vanity and mine
To stating timidly
A timid similarity,
We shall boast anyway:
Like love I say.

Like love we don't know where or why,
Like love we can't compel or fly,
Like love we often weep,
Like love we seldom keep.


7/27/08