Subscribe: by Email | in Reader

The Law the Lawyers Know About -- H D C Pepler

Guest poem sent in by Mike Lynd
(Poem #1392) The Law the Lawyers Know About
 The law the lawyers know about
 Is property and land;
 But why the leaves are on the trees,
 And why the wind disturbs the seas,
 Why honey is the food of bees,
 Why horses have such tender knees,
 Why winters come and rivers freeze,
 Why Faith is more than what one sees,
 And Hope survives the worst disease,
 And Charity is more than these,
     They do not understand.
-- H D C Pepler
To pick up on the 'hope' theme of the Emily Dickinson poem [Poem #1382],
here is a little poem that I have always liked. Not only does it bash
lawyers in a most satisfying way, but it also delineates faith, hope and
charity both elegantly and succinctly. I am not sure about the "tender
knees" line but the rest of the poem neatly contrasts the prosaic doings of
lawyers with the mysteries of life and nature.

HDC Pepler, the author, seems to have been a printer in Ditchling, Sussex
during the 1930s, and a Google search reveals about 25 references to him,
mainly as a printer of "private press" works but also with a few references
to this poem.

best wishes,

Mike Lynd

19 comments: ( or Leave a comment )

Julian Tepper said...

Guest poem in reply:

While it's true that
Lawyers know the law of property and land,
For the rest, they
No more than others, need a guiding hand.

They, too, have hearts that understand.

Julian Tepper
Lawyer

Ashok said...

do you
do you understand?

what do you understand?

are your knees weak
from fighting your ex-wife
is your soul troubled from stealing
her life?

do you still call her,
honey
or do you only
hate the lawyer
for you
hoarding your money

Diane Janah said...

Response to comments made by Ashok:

The Law that Lawyers really know
Is how to put on an excellent show
To their peers, the judge and the jury
Despite the public's outcry and fury

With amazing coniving, legalese, and jargon
Stretching and twisting facts till they're far gone
Squeezing cash from clients - the very last drop
Leaving all involved in a huge financial spot

Ah Alas! for their hearts, with no feeling or emotion
Bright minds trained in law, but to truth no devotion
They follow the gold, their souls lost in their quest
Traded in for a profession considered greedy at best!

What HDC Pepler, printer n' poet seemed to know
Is a wisdom that's lacking in lawyers - to grow
Beyond their vision of winning every court case
To observe nature's wonders instead of the rat race

Yes, the LAW the lawyers know all about
Of that there really is no doubt;
But of character and honesty,
Of self worth and of purity,
Of true vision and integrity,
Of real justice and equality,
Of hurting and their casualty,
Of harm they cause inevitably,
(Of Ashok's poetic inability,)
Of all those things they know nothing of, I shout.

Diane
The printer (with a lawyer for a brother)

SJanah said...

Before the Lawyers Get You
=====================
Tut, tut, li'l bro and li'l sis,
Its not nice to fight like this!
Cool down, pipe down, make nice,
Else the cops will put you on ice!

And then you'll really come to know
What grief those lawyers can bestow!
And when your purses have run dry,
You'll repent, and cry and cry!

Arjun
(the teacher, with a printer
and a lawyer as cousins)

Arjun Janah said...

Cool it before the lawyers get you
=================================
Tut, tut, li'l bro and l'il sis,
It's not nice to fight like this!
Cool down, pipe down, make nice,
Else the cops will put you on ice.

And then you'll really come to know
What grief those lawyers can bestow!
And when your purses have run dry,
You'll repent, and cry and cry!

Arjun
(the teacher, with a lawyer
and a printer for cousins)

Arjun said...

It's been a while as you can see.
And we have parted, cousins three.
But lawyers, printers, teachers still
Are plying trades and always will.

And which is better, which is worse?
To counsel, print or teach? This verse
Will never answer questions such,
For that is asking far too much.

And with the years, we'll older grow,
And one by one we'll die. They'll know,
The ones who visit still, this site,
That each thought he or she was right.

And was it so? We'll never know.
In heaven high or hell below
(Or are they flipped?) or limbo weird,
We'll wander, from our jobs retired.

Anonymous said...

It is not my first time to pay a quick visit this web page, i am visiting this web site dailly and take fastidious information from here
all the time.

Also visit my webpage More Info

Anonymous said...

hello there and thank you for your information – I
have certainly picked up something new from right here.
I did however expertise some technical points using this website, since I experienced to
reload the web site many times previous to I could get it to load
properly. I had been wondering if your web host is OK?
Not that I am complaining, but sluggish loading instances times will often affect your placement in google and can
damage your quality score if ads and marketing with Adwords.
Anyway I'm adding this RSS to my e-mail and could look out for a lot more of your respective interesting content. Ensure that you update this again soon.

My blog post; Look At This

Anonymous said...

A person necessarily lend a hand to make seriously articles I might state.
That is the first time I frequented your web page and thus far?
I amazed with the analysis you made to create this actual put up extraordinary.

Magnificent task!

My web site; free section 21 notice

Anonymous said...

A person necessarily lend a hand to make seriously articles I might state.
That is the first time I frequented your web page and thus far?
I amazed with the analysis you made to create this actual put up extraordinary.
Magnificent task!

Feel free to surf to my site free section 21 notice

Anonymous said...

I do not know whether it's just me or if perhaps everyone else experiencing issues with your site. It looks like some of the written text in your content are running off the screen. Can somebody else please comment and let me know if this is happening to them as well? This might be a issue with my web browser because I've had this happen before.
Appreciate it

my web page; External Link

Anonymous said...

When some one searches for his necessary thing, so he/she needs
to be available that in detail, so that thing is maintained over here.


Also visit my page - Helpful Resources

Anonymous said...

I leave a leave a response each time I like a article on a site or I have
something to valuable to contribute to the conversation.
It's caused by the passion communicated in the post I looked at. And on this post "The Law the Lawyers Know About -- H D C Pepler". I was actually moved enough to post a thought :-) I actually do have a couple of questions for you if it's allright.
Could it be only me or do some of the comments come
across as if they are coming from brain dead folks?
:-P And, if you are writing at other online social
sites, I would like to keep up with you. Could you make a list every one of your
shared pages like your Facebook page, twitter feed, or linkedin profile?


Review my page - For More Information

alicetaylor said...

The law the lawyers know about. Is property and land; But why the leaves are on the trees, And why the winds disturb the seas, Why honey is the food of bees,

web site

Post a Comment