The Civil War

History…

Is just that

“His” Story

Which doesn’t include 

every fact

Depends on who’s telling it

But truth should include every bit

Whether told by me or you

Not limited to just our points of view

Ours has a lot of lies by omissions

Told by those in high positions

Don’t want anyone to know

How it used to be

Let’s bury it 

Don’t admit

Pretend it didn’t happen

“Ya’ll are now free!”

Some say there’s no more danger

Some get mad with displaced anger

“That’s over now”

Is what we hear. WOW!

Dare we scare the children

With the true horrors

Though historically made sure to engage them

Celebrating our sorrows 

Parents with their children were at the gallows

And Not standing in the shadows

They seemed to enjoy the gruesome scene 

Unfolding before them 

As their eyes gleamed

Minimizing the depth of carnage is dishonest

By taking responsibility, telling the true history 

May you be admonished

Saying “slaves came over to help us pick the cotton” 

I read in one book

Minimized to seem like a wonderful thing 

Was this author’s hook

Forced migration is NOT Immigration 

For a better life

Who would actually choose slavery?

A perpetual ethnic and civil strife

Many still think slavery was ended because it was wrong and the moral thing to do

Ending human suffering and degradation. No! 

That just wasn’t true

It was the last ditch effort 

By President Lincoln 

To try to stop a Coup 

To keep the South from seceding 

Probably after a lot of pleading 

Was the North’s real reason

Now we all know what the South planned to do 

Was nothing short of Treason!

So to save face

Lincoln offered a place

For newly freed slaves to join the Union

Giving relief to his regiments 

Who were sorely losin’

Now given a chance 

We took our stance

While fighting for our lives

We got a taste 

Of the proverbial state

A sense of national pride

Although our perspectives were different 

And reasons were not the same

Even though it was the right thing to do 

It was initially not the aim

The end result was abolishment of slavery

Penned by those who were also to blame

The fact it took nearly 300 hundred years 

Is a crying shame…

 

By Terilyn Perry