Notes on a Shameful Usage

Animated conversation with a certain prophet
moved the king to reconsider an equation
so to speak between the right on one side
and Bathsheba on the other.

The same keen eye which once observed
the giant clearly and then made another
reckoning had from his roof looked down
and seen the lovely woman washing,

And the hand that reached for one smooth stone
now reached for something even smoother,
but desire, he was told with some severity,
is calculation hasty to a fault,

And perilous in its omission of an entry
that can easily be lost on any eager watcher,
this ponderous yet precious burden, judgment
even mighty kings must bear,

Unbalancing the said equation, causing it
to fall and shatter with a frightful sound
like judgment that condemns this
shameful usage of the Hittite, one Uriah.