Our Heroes Stains

Indeed, we speak no evil behind the dead,

A nation that shuns its heroes isn’t worth a soul’s sacrifice,

But do evil men transform into saints with mere silence?

Is it different to call one legend a murderer from labelling another a traitor?

Is darkening one living legend’s name because of his opinion any different from recounting the crimes of a deceased one?

Why blow the moral whistle only when our own kin are pierced?

Do other heroes grow younger in the face of truth?

Or cloud our vision with hypocrisy?

Does blood hue shift from tribe to tribe?

What whispers reach my soul?

The custodians react?

Did they not hear the blood-stained widow’s wail?

Is she not their own kin, too?

Or is it a veil of misjudgment and bare tribalism?

Severed precedents flourish,

But let us not forget, as fallible we are, so as our heroes and buried legends,

It is essential to know when to seal the chapter,

And build upon their radiant achievements.

 

BY: Khadijah Ama Williams