Nina Jo Smith - Justice Sestina

Justice Sestina
Nina Jo Smith
© 2023 Redwood River Music

In a land that has no king, who would be our Solomon?
Where is the balance; who will lead with love?
Who will buckle down, settle into harness,
Pull our unmasked violence toward justice;
Like a child’s red wagon on a rocky trail,
Swaying like a drunkard, teetering toward jazz.

Not soaring, not melodic, just jagged jazz,
Not leaning, not falling, strong like Solomon,
Not knowing if we’ve lost the traces, the true trail,
Not humbling ourselves before his deep love,
Not craving, nor curing, carving out justice,
Who amongst us will pull the plow in harness?

Dam the rivers, there’s energy to harness,
Close the clubs now, we have no room for jazz;
Who kneels on a black man’s neck, killing justice?
Where are our prophets; what say you, Solomon?
Why fear, revile, annihilate, why not love?
Why obliterate the fading Freedom Trail?

White woman rambles along a leafy trail,
She will not put her dog into its harness.
She thinks that’s for the black man who is loved
By his sister, birder friends and all that jazz,
His equanimity rivals Solomon;
His life depends on it; where is his justice?

She’s fired from her job, a taste of justice.
Banned from Central Park, she cannot walk this trail.
To tweet or not to tweet? Go ask Solomon.
Choking her dog, she lost it. Why not harness?
She could have said hello, could have flowed like jazz
And walked the Ramble among birders and love.

She could learn to replace her fear with true love,
We could turn away from murder, toward justice,
Listen to Miles and Bird and savor all jazz.
He could amble unmolested on a trail.
Will whites respect a Black man free from harness?
Reconstruction. Reparations. Solomon.

Something like jazz arises, the will to love.
Song of Solomon, balance scales of Justice;
Greet a black man on a trail, never harness.

For Christian Cooper