A Farce in Court*

A blindfolded woman holding a balanced scale
A farce in which nobody wants to participate
A court where self-respected lawyers refuse to stay
A court where the marionett judge
does not know what he is doing or uttering.
Yet the whole world is watching!!!

Tell me your definitions
of "Justice" or "Injustice."
Compare them with your actual “law practice.”
The audience is laughing
at your “law” and “law enforcers.”
Guffaw
Hee-haw

“SILENCE!”
the crazy blindfolded woman
yells angrily.

“IGNORE!”
The blindfolded woman, gagged;
Her hands, handcuffed;
Her scale, snatched.
Human dignity
Human rights
Letters, petitions,
Protesting, begging,
all brushed aside.

“GET IT DONE!”
says the invisible prosecutor.

The handcuffed defenseless defendant**,
his head up, leaving the stage,
escorted by two scarecrows
in uniform, their eyes drooping.
The acting, over.
The curtain, pulled.

The whole world remains mute.
The audience, stunned
by obvious insensibility.
A ghost silence looms.

Only time, and the honest,
and the wise can tell.

TRUTH has its own voice.

The little boy among the crowd
watching the king in “his magnificent gown”
candidly cries out:
“Look! The king is naked!”

And everybody, awakened.

Notes:
* The trial of Mr. Cu Huy Ha Vu in Hanoi, Vietnam, on April 4, 2011.
**A Vietnamese lawyer, dissident, and pro-democracy activist, Mr. Cu Huy Ha Vu.