Promises To Keep Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

Live it up!
By all means...
Don't let me stop you!
I wouldn't dare allow my eyes,
To drift away from absorbing this!
Your current romp in glee,
Reminds me of so much I must remember!

For every chicken I watched my mother pluck!
And for every blister suffered on my father's hands...
Obtained by working ungloved in an iron factory,
You are going to pay!
For every roach that crawled on my skin,
For every rat that fell on my sister
When the ceiling caved in!
For every teardropp I wiped from my swollen eyes...
I STILL have problems drying.
You are going to pay for the lies you told,
To keep our lives lived that way!

Live it up!
I have forgiven.
But forgotten...
I have not!
Live it up! !
I have promises to keep!
And memories to release and unlock,
That feeds my anger!