Today I will be true or false*

I am standing before this court

Before a Magistrate, the arbiter in this case,

Behind me are parties in this case

To my left is my client:

A shy, horrified little girl

To my right:

The man who tore into her

Defiling her, sucking her vitality

Leaving her the pale shadow of her former self.

Today, I will be true or false.

I have prepared for this case, the charges are clear,

But to prosecute this case

I need evidence, I need to convince

This court beyond reasonable doubt

Any scintilla of doubt and this criminal is off the hook

Yesterday, I was with this small girl

God knows she has been through much!

At her age, she should be playing with her friends

Not attending courts!

At her age, she should be a child

Not this nightmare she is going through!

The playing field flashes through my mind

I hear children playing

And I see this girl running about too

Something constricts my throat

“Your Honour,” I address the court,

“Look at that child for a moment

Her innocence stolen forever

Her steady frame of mind destabilized forever

There she is in a morbid theatre…”

The Opposing Counsel objects:

“Objection, Your Honour, Counsel is

Pandering to emotions!”

I plough on:

“If I may, if there is something like pandering to

Emotions in this case, my client is there for the full glare

Of the world;

Pray, I need not colour my speech

The horror that my client went through

Is enough to speak of the indignity

Of the vile act, so odious…”

The Magistrate is not writing,

So I change tact

I see this will be one of the most difficult

Cases.

~

Purely fictional, although I am a Children Rights Advocate.
The title is borrowed from one of the speeches, I forget which, in the book "Profiles of Courage" by John. F. Kennedy that I read many years ago.