Lest You Yourself Be Judged

LEST YOU YOURSELF BE JUDGED If my game is to be judged, let it be in the way I hesitatingly judge other people’s play. Perhaps the ultimate judgement of my game Will be merely a replica of my own past – the same. When I judge a child or even an adult I allow for all the pressures difficult And every opportunity and gift Which were thrust upon him swift. And then I try to assess how well he did. A teacher likes an always-does-his-best kid. What about the smart kid who doesn’t have to try? No teacher I know will judge this kid very high. In card-playing terms, it’s understood: Did he play his hand the best way he could? All bridge players know from contending That a hand is a winner or a loser depending Not on king, queen, ace or other boss card, But on who plays it with skill - and how hard. After all, the cards come to us at random And we must take them and use them with wisdom. No such thing as fate or luck or chance. Chance always favours the prepared stance. That seems only fair to me: and if to me, then Hopefully also to the Ultimate Judge of men. If I am wrong, and the final summation Of my life is measured with a different gradation, Then I feel that there probably was no Creation: And there is no Ultimate Judge. It is all imagination.