Still I Sit With This Bitterness Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

After fifty years,
You are much too late!
To entice any interests
To bait my creative tastes.

I have not been waiting,
For your awareness to discover...
An identity you have suppressed,
That now finds you recovered.

When I was given 'gifts'
It was my duty to persist...
To lift them to heights.
Not to hide them in fright!

A veil from your eyes have been lifted.
You 'now' want to express your worth.
You now find something within yourself...
That you have found more valuable than dirt!
Weren't you the one to say back then,
That I was the scum of the Earth?

Now that scum is priceless!
And you find that 'scum'...
Has become 'royalty' to serve?
How humbling an 'act' I observe!

After fifty years,
You are much too late!
To entice any interests
To bait my creative tastes.

I have not been waiting,
For your awareness to discover...
An identity you have suppressed,
That now finds you recovered.

When I was given 'gifts'
It was my duty to persist...
To lift them to heights.
Not to hide them in fright!

A veil from your eyes have been lifted.
You 'now' want to express your worth.
You now find something within yourself...
That you have found more valuable than dirt!
Weren't you the one to say back then,
That I was the scum of the Earth?

Now that scum is priceless!
And you find that 'scum'...
Has become 'royalty' to serve?
For some.
How humbling an 'act' I observe!
And still I sit with this bitterness...
I have yet to find strength to overcome.
As I hold back anger,
Sometimes in fits!
Biting my lips to be pleasant to everyone!