Ladies and gentleman. a prosecutor shuddered,
Fingering his rep tie and silk-wool vest,.
The girl murdered her mother.  Her mother!
The least you can do is put her to death.
 
Evidence shows a single shot to the head
Killed the victim instantly.  Pow!!
The accused and her sibling may not have been fed,
But that is not at issue.  Remember that, now..
 
The victim was cruel, you heard witnesses say.
She whipped the two bloody. She shut them away.
Locked up and escaped to a bar a couple days..
Leaving them with little to do but pray.
 
I love my kids, the victim has been said to say..
Got things to do, don't I!.  Can't say I spare the rod..
So I leave the odd mark on their hide . .hey!
I am human, not  fornicatin'  God..
 
For the defense's part, they took the risk
Of calling the accused to the stand.  So blue,
She was mute, then sounded oddly brisk,
She sighed toward the end, I am human, too.
 
I knew it was a crime when I killed Mother.
I know I deserve the Chair.
But no one  -- no one -- hurts my little brother..
She broke his arm!  She pulled out his hair!
 
I tried to get someone to help.  I did.
It was her or him, I swear.
Don't try to hide when she blows her lid,
so I get out her gun and wave it in the air.
 
Mother caught me by the wrist and twisted,
and that is when I fired, and only then...
Brother a brother, right?  Big sister, big sister?.
Can't help but think I would do it again.
 
The jury tried and tried to decide.
Nearly all were parents themselves.
But all had been children at one time.
Empathy for the child simply overwhelmed.
 
Media pretended to be scandalized.
Commandments were waved in protest.
If only you could have seen her eyes --
that jury member said it best. . .except
 
I knew it was a crime when I killed Mother.
I know I deserve the Chair.
But no one -- no one -- hurts my little brother.
She broke his arm!  She pulled out his hair!

            (c) Phyllis Jean Dawson Green,  July, 2008

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