Nuremberg: History In Phase
by Michael Doyle

May Seventh, Nineteen Forty-Five,
The war in Europe came to an end.
Those still living were glad to be alive.
The lessons learned were a hopeless godsend.

The inevitable capture of Hermann Göring
Set off the events that became ongoing.
These would change the world we had known.
From this, seeds of justice were sown.

Unparalleled, it was established without denial
That a nation's war crimes were subject to trial.
International cases suddenly had a special jurisdiction,
And justice could be found pressed into conviction.

Aggressive persecution of war became its own crime,
Though it had never been as such before this time.
The United States and others heard the echo of this call,
And it would have implications for us all.

Philosophy's candle draws the moth
At the alluring thought of creating law from whole cloth.
There was no precedent to hang a decision on.
Changes like this must be taken, or they will soon be gone.

An international tribunal was composed with due care,
All the necessary components were a logistical nightmare.
Still, it was something that had to be done.
Without justice served, no one could have really won. 

An international deck of cards played like a trick,
There was no one to fool or to out-slick.
It ran like a fast-moving locomotive train,
Trying desperately hard to outdrive the rain.

All tricks of the mind come down to perception.
Sleight of hand comes more to belief than deception.
The mind tends to see what it wants to see.
This is the illusion beneath political psychology. 

Such are the paths of propaganda and history,
With so much of it garbled in thinly veiled mystery.
There are exceptions to exceptions that are notable,
And the rest, as they say, remains vaguely quotable.

(c) March 14, 2026   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved