The moment in the rose garden is very personal (there are no consequences) and therefore timeless (no frame of reference, no reason, no relativist preclusions.) I'm very sorry m'Lud I don't know what came over I don't know what I could have been thinking of I don't know what could have made me I don't know why on earth, where on earth, how on earth. And m'Lud says, "You don't know much, do you?" And I say, do I have to know more - is that required? And m'Lud says, "Do you know the difference between right and wrong? Did you know at the time?" And I say, what time? whose difference? And m'Lud says, "Do not be so impertinent. Do not waste the Court's time." And I, humble, contrite, remorseful, filled with penitential ardour, say, Do to me what ought to be done to you and to all of us. And m'Lud says, "You knew what you were doing." And I say, who can ever really know that?
From Figments of a Murder, Spinifex Press
© Gillian Hanscombe
CHARGE
OCCUPATION
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