Judgement Poem by Joseph Cross

One by one, they stand alone,
Pleading their case before Queen and court.
Judgement is given, but not announced,
Until the trials are done.
Some are simplistic, wanting the end.
Others are elegant with flourishing ideals.
Yet all must be judged for their crimes.
What crimes they are, we may never know.
That is not important. Only one thing is.
The verdict, decision based on nothing real.
We all know the truth. They already know,
The verdicts, the punishments, all of it,
Was already decided. Where is Justice?
Where is that unseen force,
That saves the innocent and condemns those of guilt?
We may never know what has become of it.
Only that, before it was lost,
We saw the guilty standing tall.
The judges, all in places of power,
No better than dead by justice’s standards.
But justice is gone, and soon, we so shall be.