Law of The Letter

And the spirit of the writ.

Occasionally Obsidian Eagle enjoys borrowing terminology from Legalese — in order to invert its meaning by way of subversive verse. If you’re fairly familiar with litigation, then you’re probably aware there’s a distinction drawn between what’s called the letter of the law, and the spirit of the law. We won’t be going into much detail regarding those here because this isn’t exactly an essay. So the following Anti-Poem is an attempt at (and perhaps succeeds in) turning said dichotomy upon its head. If anyone is curious, the rhyming scheme is another invention of Yours Truly: a ‘dodecad’ comprising twelve similar or pseudo rhymes. Anyway, you be the judge (pun intended)!

Law of The Letter

Never shirk not being famous

Nor pretend that in all this you’re actually blameless.

Your Honor, the accused will henceforth remain nameless

Though if he were a leprechaun, we might call him Seamus

For as you can see, in terms of disposition, he’s quite shameless

And no supplanter worth his salt would want to sound like an ignoramus.

Oftentimes when critics take potshots they’re liable to miss

The point is, there isn’t any real reason to blame us

Yet many may say that our rants are aimless

Or even serve up a severe Writ of Mandamus

Stating one must cease and desist

Lest later on there should appear / some rather litigious reclaimants…

Further Readings