A LAY OF THE LAW COURTS.
Being the experience of Officials, Counsel, Clients, Witnesses, and all who do their business in the Great Legal Maze. With apologies to the Poet Laureate.
Up the stairs, down the stairs,
Farther and farther yet;
Here we come out of breath,
Flustered and sundered.
Barriers to right of us,
Barriers to left of us,
Barriers in front of us!
Bad words we thundered.
Most doors are barred and locked,
All sense of safety shocked;
Why is our business blocked
By those who blundered?
Back to the charge we're led;
Corridors dark we tread;
Had we gone heels o'er head
Who could have wondered?
No friend to say "Beware!"
No warning, "Pray, take care!"
Each step another snare!
If one, there's five hundred.
Ours not to make reply;
Ours not to reason why;
Still we may raise the cry,
Some one has blundered!
Funny Folks, 1883.