04 January 2020

Justice Was Lost in Central Park

Beaten, coerced 
into confessions 

Confessions that did not, 
could not, 
match the reality 

Justice didn’t waste time 
as the city 
called for vengeance 

She found five 
easy targets upon whom 
to direct the city’s wrath 

Oh, Justice has a cane 
but it is not 
because she is blind 

Her cane has 
other purposes 

With strong, swift blows, 
Justice took a swing 
at five innocent boys 

When the last strike had landed, 
the innocence of childhood 
was smashed into pieces, 
their hope for the future 
locked tightly behind bars 

Bars that would 
hold them and scar them 
for six to fourteen years 

Justice, celebrating 
the job she had done 
providing five perfect scapegoats, 
contentedly patted her own back 

It took the attacker himself, 
more than a decade later, 
to set the record straight 

Innocence was never recaptured, 
years were never returned, 
the harm could not be undone 

If only Justice had bothered 
putting down her cane 
and opening her eyes 
in 1989 


29 Nov 2019

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