Associate Justices of Court Supreme!
Stern arbiters of destiny in law!
Thy gathered dignity and power would seem
August a thing as people ever saw.

Associate Justices of Court Supreme!
Sitting en banc to punish for contempt;
To see you sitting, who would ever dream
That you from such opinion were exempt?

A crowded room with vulgar men who spit —
Spit on the crimson carpet without shame.
This before Justice — in the sight of it —
The highest thing for which we have a name!

Then " Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye! " is the cry,
We rise, they shamble in, the court room stares,
While these great Justices en banc go by
And take possession of their rocking-chairs

Their rocking-chairs. Their cane-backed rocking-chairs!
Wherein they swing and dandle to and fro,
Lounging and stretching has lazy airs
As smoking-rooms and billiard parlors know

Grave issues hang on every spoken word,
The people listen, whispering in pairs,
The case proceeds, and through it all is heard
The steady squeaking of their rocking-chairs

How can we honor Justice when 'tis seen
In men who shame her temple (or her tomb),
Who can insult the Goddess with a mien
That would debar them from a drawing-room?

No reverence is too deep from those who claim
The highest ground that mortal soul has trod;
Those who serve Justice, standing in her name,
Serve in the presence of the living God.