Judgment Poems
To Judgment: An Assay
by Jane Hirshfield
You change a life
as eating an artichoke changes the taste
of whatever is eaten after.
Yet you are not an artichoke, not a piano or cat—
not objectively present at all—
and what of you a cat possesses is essential but narrow:
to know if the distance between two things can be leapt.
The piano, that good servant,
has none of you in her at all, she lends herself
to what asks; this has been my ambition as well.
......
The Judgment Tale
by Valzhyna Mort
Over the growing shadows fell the dead weight of light.
With a long bark mules metered the distance and turned back.
Dust rose like columns of unpaid debt.
Spit dried before it could reach the ground.
Then the thin-barked orange trees disowned their thick-skinned fruit.
Then mosquitoes spat out bad blood into the gutters and were gone.
Fish was opened like a two-page book,
......
Listen!
by Michael R. Burch
Listen
by Michael R. Burch
Listen to me now and heed my voice;
I am a madman, alone, screaming in the wilderness,
but listen now.
Listen to me now, and if I say
that black is black, and white is white, and in between lies gray,
I have no choice.
......
Judgment is justest
by Emily Dickinson
Judgment is justest
When the Judged,
His action laid away,
Divested is of every Disk
But his sincerity.
Honor is then the safest hue
In a posthumous Sun -
Not any color will endure
That scrutiny can burn.
......
For Judgment
by Sir Lewis Morris
THE form was young, the face was fair,
Her hands seemed still together tied,
'Twas as if Eve was standing there,
With the stern guardian at her side.
I mused on all the depths of will,
Of judgment, knowledge, right, and wrong.
The pleadings crept their course, and still
I sat in musings sad and long.
......
Listen!
by Michael R. Burch
Listen
by Michael R. Burch
Listen to me now and heed my voice;
I am a madman, alone, screaming in the wilderness,
but listen now.
Listen to me now, and if I say
that black is black, and white is white, and in between lies gray,
I have no choice.
......
The Uncontested Lawyer
by Carl Rex
One night I happened to dream of a trial
It seemed to be vital, there was no denial
A case to be weighed for life or for death
Solemn thoughts pervading amidst abated breath
The Judge was seated quite high on His throne
His wisdom apparent so gracefully shone
The felon was hardened, his look full of hate
His case was so hopeless, his crime was so great
......
The Judgment Tale
by Valzhyna Mort
Over the growing shadows fell the dead weight of light.
With a long bark mules metered the distance and turned back.
Dust rose like columns of unpaid debt.
Spit dried before it could reach the ground.
Then the thin-barked orange trees disowned their thick-skinned fruit.
Then mosquitoes spat out bad blood into the gutters and were gone.
Fish was opened like a two-page book,
......
For Judgment
by Sir Lewis Morris
THE form was young, the face was fair,
Her hands seemed still together tied,
'Twas as if Eve was standing there,
With the stern guardian at her side.
I mused on all the depths of will,
Of judgment, knowledge, right, and wrong.
The pleadings crept their course, and still
I sat in musings sad and long.
......
To Judgment: An Assay
by Jane Hirshfield
You change a life
as eating an artichoke changes the taste
of whatever is eaten after.
Yet you are not an artichoke, not a piano or cat—
not objectively present at all—
and what of you a cat possesses is essential but narrow:
to know if the distance between two things can be leapt.
The piano, that good servant,
has none of you in her at all, she lends herself
to what asks; this has been my ambition as well.
......
