I am in the court, but not this time
Will I fear the crowds or the voice
For I am here to hear of crime
Most evil and then to make the choice
To call for death or let one free.
The judge begins and much is said:
Are these indeed the peers who can
Pronounce in just and honest thread
On such a one? With guile and plan
Other guides are tapped, including me.
The case proceeds with tales spun
To desperate folks who won't learn much.
For I knew how each deed was done:
I did them all. This case is such
A farce. But who will say?
To set one free I could confess
A log of all that passed between
Us. But stay I mute and address
The court to give our verdict seen
Of guilt found full on one this day.
And so this program carefully made
In perfect truth and bug-shorn free
Is destroyed and charged as retrograde:
And re-compiled. Compiled by me.
In the bamboo court.