Spare a thought for Involuntary Litigants
Silence the clock!
Silence the confusion, shadow boxing, talk
Silence the gasping, choking, hacking search for air
Silence the blue smoke blowing everywhere.
Silence the verbs, the nouns, the bitter adjectives
Silence the motions, seconds, minutes, deposed answers, questions, rulings
Silence the libels, slanders, character assassination
Silence the half truths, innuendo, and all those misplaced acts
Silence this waterfall of words, its torrent debris of mischief, misery
Silence the swirling waters of misdirected moots
Silence the muddying sleight of hand, and tack
Silence the flood of forbidden whole-truth fact.
Silence the ringing in the ears, the ringing of the till
Silence the poisoned cup of falsely proffered peace
Silence the hollow solitary witness with his oath-ed truth
Silence the swollen empty feeling in the gut
Silence the pregnant pause, the postured pose, the pungent look
Silence the pounding heart, quivering, doubting spirit
Silence the stomach churning, wrenching turmoil, fear, uncertainty
Silence the doubt, despair, despite, and all disputes
Silence the law, this pretence of justice
Silence the sneering contempt, the powerful, all means of their control
Silence the fraud, abuse, the craving for revenge
Silence the rage at injustice;
Silence all the rage.
We would forget the ways of legal arms,
the clash of warring tongues,
the fusillade and cannon thunder of expletive-d emotions.
Silence in the court!