The Trial (Golden Shovel) CJ

Laudenbach

“The prisoner who now stands before you / was caught red-handed showing feelings / showing feelings of an almost human nature.”

— Pink Floyd, "The Trial"

The pickpocket kneels in chains before the King of Thieves, head bowed — the purloiner now a prisoner. She was a fool to fish in the pockets of the man who ran the underbelly — simply to see if she could. Now, though, she resolves not to die humbly, and so she stands straight and stares into his eyes. “Before I am to be executed, I would have you remember me as the Thief of Kings.” Instead of a scowl, the face she saw was not one of a cat who caught a canary. The King, who caught her red-handed In his own court, was showing no sign of ill will or hard feelings toward her. A slow grin, a thoughtful twinkle in his eye, still showing no flicker of his intentions with her fate, created faltering feelings in the pit of her stomach. He gestured toward his court of sordid splendor, and finally, the King spoke. “If I were an honest man, I’d have you hanged as a dog. But you and I are almost a reflection, Thief of Kings. I will not condemn a fellow human to death for doing what is in our nature.”