Falling Equally
Supreme Court
Outside of the Supreme Court building in London there is a statue of Abraham Lincoln - the revered American President who led his country through a terrible civil war and brought an end to slavery in the United States.
Immediately in front of the court's main entrance there are some stone benches on which the following words from Andrew Motion are inscribed - Andrew being the country's Poet Laureate between 1999 and 2009.
I especially liked the last line of the poem - 'The light of reason falling equally' - and I certainly hope that they prove to be prophetic when it comes to Freedom of Information and Equal Pay.
Lines for The Supreme Court
Tides tumbled sand through seas long-lost to earth;
Sand hardened into-stone – stone cut, then brought
To frame the letter of our four nations’ law
And square the circle of a single court.
Here Justice sits and lifts her steady scales
Within the Abbey’s sight and Parliaments
But independent of them both. And bound
By truth of principle and argument.
A thousand years of judgment stretch behind –
The weight of rights and freedoms balancing
With fairness and with duty to the world:
The clarity time-honoured thinking brings.
New structures but an old foundation stone:
The mind of Justice still at liberty
Four nations separate but linked as one:
The light of reason falling equally.
Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate 1999-2009
