Casting Judgement

“You!” she shrieked with confidence. “Surely it was you.”

With a single finger pointing, she cast judgment, like she knew.

All accusing eyes were on me, how they fully misconstrue.

“I didn’t,” I called earnestly, not knowing what to do.

*

“Order!” called the man in charge, his gavel bangs for show.

“You’ll speak when asked,” he bellows, with his face all red, aglow.

What I’m facing is a hanging. In a panic, I yell, “No!”

The man scowls deeply, saying, “Don’t you speak. I told you so.”

*

No trial and no jury, it is clear my life is through.

As they drag me to the hanging tree, a crowd comes into view.

My accuser points at someone else and says, “No, it was you.”

But no one cares, they want me dead. There’s no one to look to.

*

This tree has seen a hundred deaths, and what a way to go.

The mournful pleas, the screams, the stench, the dark, grotesque tableau.

Judge not, my friend lest ye be judged, and taken down below.

Let’s learn and not repeat mistakes from not that long ago.