In just three short lines, this poem sets a painful word beside a surprising one. "Miscarriage" usually means the loss of a pregnancy, and the poem opens with it alone, followed by a dash, as if the speaker has to pause before going on. But "court" pulls in a second meaning: a miscarriage of justice, where the law fails and gets things wrong.
The middle line, "a life-like lack of heart," is the hinge. "Life-like" suggests something that looks alive but isn't, the way a statue or a doll might. "Lack of heart" can mean a missing heartbeat, but also a cold, uncaring attitude. So the poem seems to link a personal grief with an institution that goes through the motions without feeling.
The speaker never says "I feel," yet the mood is bleak and quietly angry. The poem suggests that loss and injustice can share the same emptiness, and that a system can seem as lifeless as what was lost.