“Young man graduating from law school to be a public defender”

Upon this stage, a young man stands  
Beneath the vaulted room’s embrace,  
A tassel trembling in his hands,  
A vision shining in his face.  
In black-robed march and hopeful tread  
He claims his parchment, bold and bright—  
Yet dreams beckon just ahead,  
Beyond the ceremonial rite.

Not for him the easy climb  
Of marble towers, high and grand;  
He shapes his oath and marks his time  
Where justice calls with outstretched hand.  
For every voice unheard, he’ll speak—  
Against the tide he’s sworn to row—  
For broken lives and futures bleak,  
He dares to stand, he yearns to know.

The courthouse halls are humming low  
With stories old as city stone;  
His gentle gaze, his measured glow,  
Turns every plea to flesh and bone.  
He learns the names, he hears the cries—  
The mother’s fear, the father’s plea—  
He sees the battle in their eyes,  
A world that cannot set them free.

Yet through the midnight preparation,  
The statued silence of the night,  
He binds his will to restoration,  
And hopes, by law, to make things right.  
A dreamer armed with sharpened skill,  
A champion for those condemned—  
A young man climbs the courthouse hill,  
A public defender, world to mend.

So let his journey be as bright  
As courage fanned by hearth and home;  
May every trial, every fight,  
Remind him: none must stand alone.  
For in his work, compassion blends  
With reason, ready blade and pen—  
The world this young man now defends  
Will never be the same again.

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