Some People Want the Law

Some People Want the Law

Some people want the law to incapacitate the willful.
Some people want the law to give the capable the willies.
Some people want the law to give safe passage to marauders.
Some people want the law to quarantine the pious few.

Some people think the law’s supposed to stop a locomotive,
or murder all the newborns for an octave after Christmas.
Some people think the law’s supposed to sponsor full disclosure,
or make certain that the homely only couple with the homely.

I say the law you want requites your thoughtful self-reliance.
I say the law you want despises passions, pacts, or fads.
I say the law you want will be a champion for the immigrant,
the refugee, the transient, and all such discerning souls.

Some people want the law to make the fat man share his pantry.
Some people want the law to break the thin man in his pride.
Some people want the law to force two wrongs into a marriage
Some people want the law to put a sock in hatred’s maw.

Some people want the law to teach the waltz to the Watutsi,
or pair the paring oysters at they glide towards Noah’s Ark.
Some people say the law has got to fix my neighbor’s wagon
but may not strip my chariot of lances, spears and arrows.

I say the law you want confirms the realists in their stillness
I say the law you want disowns all posers, pimps, and punks.
I say the law you want is irresistible to anyone
who ever had to live in sharp resistance to the law.