No Amends for Ancestral Sins

Goods works thrive on truth, fall away with lies. History etches in stone the lessons it inspires.

Each of us owes a duty to life’s greater good.

We struggle to find the courage to persevere

When inhumanities ply the devices of disaster.

Chaos, chains, and cruelties glare on every side.

We all fight, adapt, or die in duty to our honor.

As we brave the thorns to gather buds entwined.

Faith and moral clarity empower us to survive.

Good works thrive on truth, fall away with lies.

History etches in stone the lessons it inspires.

Statues and totems stand tall in silent revue.

Hearts, not marble, paid the toll in suffering.

Villains paid in bones, their own evil to atone,

As will insolents who lash with hate and guile

To rip asunder our symbols of ancestral pride.

Truth lies in the ash heaps of history revised.

Any call for reparations begs the question why.

We endure through compromise. Stay and play,

Or turn away to find our niche in other locality,

Alone, we seek like mind, kind face, and a smile.

Shared values help us to match pride for stride.

“You and I” become we only if we each agree.

Shared history reminds us, respect is not free.

Honor my values, benefit me with your wiles.

Show me that you care. I will meter the parity.

You prove deserving, and I will pledge my life.

Western idealism teaches our youth the joys

Of helping the meek, behind face of humility,

That charity replay tenfold to ease our need.

Only cruelest traveler would snatch the gold

From my teeth as I break bread in shady glen.

Gutter snipes might peck away our serenity,

Sate themselves at trough of our generosity;

But do not insist for past ills that I owe you.

I offer neither money nor morsel in remorse

For my forebears’ sins. Your kin sinned, too.

Author's Note

I like to analyze and critique news issues and topics when I see partisan politics and propagandizing at work.