Judges

I am
the living sibboleth
Your judgment is to be
pronounced
as soon as you step over me

I'll seize you by the tounge
and mouth the sentence

that will set you free,

if only you repeat it right,
for if you don't,

you'll send to rest
some forty thousand Ephraimites
avenged,

at last!

Who overstepping Jordan
slew themselves by speech defect -

could not appease the sentinels.
Now,
Try
to say this sh** correct.