The Long Tong Of The — Law

But he cannot outrun the long tongue.

Consider the trial of Oscar Wilde in 1895. The "arm" of the law merely sentenced him to two years of hard labor. But the tongue —the brutal cross-examination regarding his "the love that dare not speak its name"—destroyed his soul and his art forever. The words spoken in that courtroom ruined him more than the prison walls. the long tong of the law

The worst injustice is not a failed arrest (the arm missing its grab). It is a failed prosecution (the tongue telling the wrong story). Ultimately, why does the "tongue" metaphor matter? But he cannot outrun the long tongue

And it burns.