Pleader

a tribute to Ronald Hendriks Williams, QC; MA (Oxon) ``M'Lud, members of the jury!'' In that formality's contained a patient fury; The one who speaks, trained in reason And established rules we call The Law, Obeys principles beyond all time and season, Confronts the beast of vengeance and its maw. If it were not so, material would be fed To machines computing ways and ends and means Then giving proven answers with nothing to be said But measured sentences counting out lives like rows of beans. What went we out to see? It is here human-ness has come to flower: Attack of the spirit against all angry power Poised to despoil Man's right to walk on free. Daring, purposeful, advancing every skill: Eyes' magnetics, wit's ferocity, actor's art; an advocate Stalks like a tiger, equally alone; but here the kill Is mistaken judgment. Such hunt is delicate.