past and present
Do not forget, White folk,
legions standing behind us,
countless ancestors wishing us well,
or not, depending on their
politics, so very varied.
Some we can rightly be proud of.
Loving souls made their marks.
We stand on their shoulders.
We feel the boots of others
weighing us down.
Liberators and oppressors
side by side, they speak
of victories, iniquities,
inequities and generosities.
Sometimes the same souls
carry histories of both.
Slave owners, champions
of civil rights shedding blood,
their own, or that of
others, copiously.
Genocidal conquerors,
scientists shedding light
on life and other mysteries.
Healers of wonder,
perpetrators of abuse.
Somehow all of that
not just behind us but
within us, tumultuous.
No wonder we are stressed,
not always knowing what to do.
poor poor white folk straddling
horns of paradox,
devils and angels
on wrestling mats.
Don’t feel too sorry
for our sorry selves when all
we need to do is listen
very carefully to countless
histories, our beating hearts choosing
life or death, wrong or right.
~ Wry Welwood
March 2021