Truth
“Tell the truth,” they say.
Fearful in youth,
Truth was difficult to speak.
Do I tell of my sense of isolation?
(would anyone hear?)
What is truth?
Who am I to speak,
Yet alone bear the burden to speak Truth?
“If you can’t say something nice,
don’t say anything at all.”
Silence is bought.
So I learn to be “nice”.
My voice is silenced.
Yet, I do see Truth.
I am aware and insightful
And I know what I know,
And see what I see.
I know what I see,
And I see what I know.
In the classroom,
Child to adult,
I see that boys and men always seem
to know truth…
never seem to doubt themselves or their interpretations.
They believe, and yet their trust is often misguided.
In time,
My voice is no longer silent.
When injustice finally impedes my plans,
My voice finally rises to speak Truth.
“It is not fair!”
My voice speaks to what I see, to what I know.
I am heard.
My voice has power…
At times.
But still,
the moment always comes
when the “good old boys” convene.
I see, and hear, and speak Truth
to the Void.
“The emperor has no clothes!”
But he does.
He has clothes of his making.
He wraps himself in what he has spun.
He has those who conspire with him to make believers
of us all.
“My word shall go out and not return to me void” says the Lord.
May it be to me as well.
May my words accomplish that which I please,
and prosper the thing whereto I send them.
But when they do not,
may I be content
Just to know the truth.
posted by Jeanene Atkinson | 6:15 PM
12 Comments:
May it ever be so with you and with Truth.
I love you.
C
This is very powerful and moving; thank you. I've spent much of my life struggling with this same conflict, so your words spoke to me.
In my extremely limited experience (I volunteer at a hospital four hours a week), part of being a hospital chaplain is bearing witness to things patients need to say, things other people might not want to hear. You know much more about this than I do. But it seems to me that whether the work is speaking difficult truths yourself or helping others do so, it's still holy.
I've watched the truth of this in your life over the years. Watched and learned and even seen this in myself. The man part of it, that is. Makes me sad to see it there.
if only more women would speak out about their own truth(s)...and yet when they do, it can be twisted by others...(like the "good ole boys")--this was thought provoking
Wow! I suppose your children are wonderful writers too or one day will be? They definitely have been exposed to it from both of you. Your thoughts and words and the way in which you chose to write them down were exquisite.
Thank you.
This resonated wit me to such a degree I thought for a moment that you were writing about my life.
Thank you for articulating so beautifully this journey many of us have taken but have no words to describe.
And as a revgalblogpal - I would add my voice to the others who have invited you to join us!
Incredible! I share your prayer about our words not returning to us void and if so, may we be at peace just to know. Thank you so much for sharing your truth here and in places that matter in my life.
What is truth?
Who am I to speak,
Yet alone bear the burden to speak Truth?
You do not know how many times I ask the very questions you asked above. Who am I? Who am I to speak?
becky
wow. This is a moving poem. So true for me as well.
Thank you for writing words that ring.
Oh I feel ya..I really do. I wrote in one of my poems "We are not supposed to tell the truth, we are supposed to smile and talk about the universals in a light and cheery way." The awesome thing about the truth is that it is contagious. As soon as you start telling it, it gives everyone the freedom to tell it to. It really does set you free and everyone else too!!
I really liked this post and identified with it like many of the others who read it. Girls and women are definitely trained to be "nice" and not say anything, even when they have something legitimate to say. Even in the small things, like disputes over an answer to a math problem or over some kind of traffic violation. I'm kind of soft-spoken and also a woman and it is really really really frustrating to get up every day and interact with people who don't even give you a chance to say something that needs to be said.
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