It Ends in Palaces

Seeing Padua’s Hall of Justice,
Palazzo della Ragione,
Il Salone, barn-like from above,

In a flyover app, there’s the thought—
Justice is a terrible concept,
Awful and strange, that is—frightening.

It’s an extraordinary creature
That creates systems for arguing
About what punishments are deserved,

That obsesses over just deserts
From toddlerhood, universally
In some form or another, in myths,

Folktales, and village gossip. Justice.
It might be more honored in the breach
Than in what passes for observance,

Fine tuning society to keep
The best people happy, with pretense
Of fairness and prevention for all.

Inequity aversion is fuel
For small, personal fairness squabbles,
But justice serves fairness theater

And historically’s an excellent
Aggravator of inequity.
Only the power to demand it

Can demand it, and although the cause
May, as they say, be just, the justice,
Which ends in palaces, never is.