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A Lesson in Lying

1)
will we ever know     the truth
is there hunger for       the truth

will we ever know
who knowingly
willfully

made false
fraudulent statements
to the senate judiciary committee…

a judge
a college professor

one is a liar

a judge
a college professor

one is a liar

2)
two role models
two doctors of law
two of the talented ten

swore

to tell    the truth
the whole   truth

one did not…

& look

the world    still turns
the sun    still shines

the judge    still adjudicates
the professor    still professorial
the liar                 still the liar

&   truth   having been kicked about
&   abused

retires    to her cell
licking      scars of rusted chains
refusing      to come forward

so now… tell me… what do we tell the children
————————-what do we tell the children

 

Island Worship

“Anyone who inflicts an injury on his neighbor shall receive the same in return.
Limb for limb, eye for eye, tooth for tooth! The same injury that a man gives
another shall be inflicted on him in return.”  Leviticus 24:19-20

1)
here we are    all together
as we sing    our song

as if    all is well
—as if      we are one
——as if     there is no history

——as we sing our song
—without animosity
–without fury

as we sing our song

after all that has unfolded
a history never told

but here we are     all together
as one     as we sing our song

in this old stone church of celestial ceilings
pink cheeked cherubs & blue eye saints
cluttered closets & lighted candles

where once massas  sang joyfully
preached gospels upholding
cruelty & piety

& here we are
descendants of massas
& massas’ property
in this old stone church of celestial ceilings

all together as one
singin’ our song
as if    nutten happen

singing together    oblivious
——to a history        too humiliating
———for reiterating          or remembering
————all together as one     surrendering to amnesia

2)
but children learn
without being told

to know your place
to know who could not

sit in front pews of certain churches
—eat at certain lunch counters
——work in certain institutions
———whistle at certain women

shielded from a history      until old enough
to pick up a book &     educate one’s self

about the history of slavery & bigotry

& become fomented with rage
& the logic of eye for eye
& limb for limb

but …

wise enough to glean
—that that was then
——that this is now

that humans evolve
that humans with bibles & guns
were indeed the primitive ones

that eye for eye logic
is primitive bs at best

does not return the eye
does not return the limb
does not delete the injury
does not delete the history

or generational grief

does not make    your heart sing
does not make      the world sing …

———words      are powerful
—words         are healing
words       are needed

between

—descendants
——of the masters
———& the enslaved

before we can truth-fully
——sing our song joy-fully
all together as one
as we hope we’ll always be

 

Note: Here We Are All Together is a song/hymn written by American Singer-Songwriter Ray Repp.

∞

Daisy Holder Lafond was born on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. A former newspaper editor, columnist and magazine publisher, her work has appeared in various publications, including The Caribbean Writer, Poui, Small Axe, Interviewing the Caribbean and Moko Magazine. She is also a coauthor of All This is Love—A Collection of Virgin Islands Poetry, Art, and Prose (2009). In 2012 she received The Caribbean Writer’s Marguerite Cobb McKay Prize and in 2015 was second place winner, Small Axe Poetry Competition. She is a mother and grandmother who is living happily on St. Croix, U.S.V.I.