It’s a big joke
To say fairness in practice is
And to hope for it in all cases
Is a thing all fair in itself.
Where for the masses
Fairness is nobody can show
In all fairness when people go on working
To arrive with great certainty at the doors
Of justice where fairness lies trampled or crumpled
And people seeing it retrace to despair
Of decades or ages
Over which seeking it
They marched leading movements
From street corners to parliament halls
Heaving law courts and rending skies with slogans
Demanding fair practices of distant days
Of honesty and simple life ways
To be restored in their pure and undiluted forms
To recognize fair from the foul and live in peace.