"No," Said the Storekeeper to the Shoplifter

​“No,” said the storekeeper to the shoplifter,
But the judge from his elevated seat
Looked at them all equally. He said, “Because
The shoplifter, the housebreaker, the deadbeat

Have a place in the world, when you
Are filling your account book, factor
Them in. But do not let them in
Your store, do not mistake the malefactor

For a cop, do not call the rioter
A social warrior. Send the goat 
With all its sins to a wilderness
Of rocks, the swindler and the cutthroat,

The streets of your town should be clean
And the cops who give out tickets fair,
The rowboats on the lake in the park
And giant soap bubbles in the city square.