“License”

An Alliterative Poem on the Absence of Justice

When justices unjustly gesture indifference,

allowing loathsome men to alight upon the liberty of others,

then gaiety and gallantry quickly gets itself gone from great nations.

When wicked men unmindful of their mortality make play,

No fear nor faith can man find for all their forensic endeavors.

Under rulers derelict of duty doth a nation diminish

For good laws are only good when the gods of the people do not guffaw at them.

Let then magistrates muster their might for mankind’s sake,

teaching truth, tolerating not the treacherous in there treason,

Nor hindering those who hold true with He who sits in the heavens.

For when from wisdom rulers walk wickedly into want

Of truth,

Nations and citizens suffer alike.

For goodly laws kept instruct the youth

Without them there be no pike

And immorality reigns in sooth.