2025 NaPM 12 April

[busker]

Justice Is


You ask me, “What is justice?” little one.
And I will tell you: justice is a story.
You know the stories I tell you
at bedtime, little one.  And the stories
that I read to you from books.
Each one of those stories has an end.
And at the end, you may say,
“Tell me another one!” but always,
you know it is complete, like a glass
of water that is full, clear,
needing nothing more to top it off
or that you have drunk down all the way
and there’s nothing more to say, little one.

Sometimes when a story’s over
you will frown, little one.  That means
someone in the story did not get
what she deserved, or what he earned.
Those unfinished stories are not justice,
little one.  Only when I make up
something more, and you are satisfied
have we reached justice.  Only then
is the story truly finished and complete.

Very soon, little one, very, very soon
you will learn to read stories
on your own, and make them up as well.
Some stories will satisfy you
in themselves; others you won’t like
because they’re incomplete: someone
did not get what he deserved,
or what she earned for all her troubles.
And what you make up to solve
that unfinished story, little one,
that is justice.  When you are older,
very, very much older, as old as I am,
you’ll sit on a jury, and hear stories
that disagree.  Then you must decide
which story is true, and what is needed
to complete it properly.  And that,
little one, is justice.

[Form:  Prose poem]

When you are older,

very, very much older, as old as I am,
you’ll sit on a jury, and hear stories
that disagree.  Then you must decide
which story is true, and what is needed
to complete it properly.  And that,
little one, is justice

Kiplingesque. One of the highlights of this year’s NaPM so far