What Charge, Blindness Be?

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12 young men,
all of them hung,
swinging from the scales of justice,

judged with their eyes
lost in contention,
wearing the badge of the righteous.

The gallows-swain,
brute force in his arms,
poked and prodded their chests,

checking for
a semblance of breath,
while they wait for the villain to confess.

Round and round they swing,
their ears begin to ring.
A witness to the stand,
a witness to their hand.

They stare, they do
with their milky eyes,
right into the hanging head.

Accuser,
fingers pointing,
their whispers he does dread.

Round and round they swing,
their ears begin to ring.
A witness to the stand,
a witness to their hand.

When all is said,
and the verdict demands,
in unison they break their jaws,

Justice deferred,
is justice denied,
end his life, devoured, bloody claws.
-JR Simmang

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