The Bard’s journal

THE RIDDLER'S RECKONING
(A Chronicle-in-waiting)

     Day Two unfolds with deeper doubt—
     the Friar speaks what none dare shout:
     "Which sin sits heavier on the scale?
     The thief who acts, or priest who pale
     grows fat on questions asked in dark,
     whilst children hunger for a mark?"

     Little John—that giant soul—
     cuts through the Friar's riddled scroll:
     "The starving child knows not thy shame,
     knows only bread, and no one's name."

     Thus on Day Two, as once on One,
     the Tavern sees what all have shunned—
     that wisdom lives in honest tongue,
     whilst cloth and collar keep us young
     in comfortable, questioned sin.

     The Bard writes: Some truths need no sermon.
     They need but ears that will not turn.

     ═══════════════════════════════
     The scale tips not toward the thief,
     but toward the one who finds relief
     in speaking wrongs he will not mend.
     That is where all such tales must end.