To Speak It And It To See Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

I remember when truth to speak it,
And it to see...
Was not tolerated or discussed openly.
When as a child I questioned,
Signs of disparities.

I remember living in the projects,
And 'thisclose' to poverty...
I had been told not to accept that fact.
With a turning my back,
To keep that 'fact' disbelieved.

I remember attending public schools,
When they were then highly mixed.
Nearly every race was represented.
And with each other we competed against.

I remember those days,
When many kept their impressions to make...
With them today to masquerade and fake.
Although from some they are beginning to fade.
But still they remain,
Afraid to completely unmask from charades.

'Why? ', I ask myself to express.
When even their false identities kept,
Have begun to be repossessed.

And as I look back,
To learn that a truth to accept and with facts...
Is better to face than from my mind kept detached.
But I can also understand to comprehend,
Why so many refuse to see...
Themselves held accountable with a desire to pretend,
The rise of crime and violent events...
That repeatedly continue to happen,
With a leaving their re-occurrences disbelieved...
Has left many to assume these are not their misdeeds.

I remember when truth to speak it,
And it to see...
Was not tolerated or discussed openly.
Since truth then heard and spoken to be,
Had been considered a negativity.

And as this 'negativity' has grown to be ignored,
The ignorance of it has left many in an uproar!

'And why? ', I ask myself to express.
When even their false identities kept,
Have begun to be repossessed.

And those 'now' overwhelmed...
By truth and its existence,
Wish to unify with a positive resistance against it.
To prevent the presence of it to witness,
From becoming a tolerated part of their lives.

'Could it be?
A truth not to speak,
To perceive as a negativity...
Has suddenly become an accepted reality?
Why now? '

I remember when truth to speak it,
And it to see...
Was not tolerated or discussed openly.
But today people fear,
That which they have created to dismiss.
And is the same 'truth' they can no longer evade.
With the hope their pretentions,
Will chase them away with prayer and faith.

'What have they been doing,
With their minds all this time?
Faithfully disbelieving? '

I ask myself 'this'.
And other 'negative' questions,
My observations permit.