Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Names Changed to Protect the Innocent ~ Wednesday, October 30, 2024

They had no idea as kids, Jeanne and Leigh
how could I blame children as an adult
even as grown up folks if we could talk
yet, emotions never fade but simmer

hate-filled racist taunts in the Seventies
asked everyone to forgive the harm done
did the perpetrators never forget

never seems immediately after
or never again to think of the past

ideas as right or wrong were meaningless
don't get me wrong, religion had its place
even if theory and practice were Church
and State, separated by amendment

as Constitution meets Philosophy
stated as primary as slavery

kissing cousins of American Law
if I never met Brinsley and Schwarzkopf
do you think their actions are all my fault
such as I was not an American

Just a boy born in Bombay long ago
even though never to be President
as if spelling well as a kid was bad
nobody in Cali was ever good
not me, certainly, full of past triggers
even though we just wanted to have fun

ask me if I care anymore after
nearly forty years with an axe to grind
drop that blade, wish I could burn the handle

Leave this world better than we received it
ever thrown into Chaos, the Abyss
if I could imagine being beyond
given situations I find myself
horrified by the past, try to let go

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