We ask again, a diff’rent phrase

Perhaps this time we’ll find

The words amidst this tumbled maze

Settled soon will be our mind

 

Truth we seek, and justice too

At least that’s what we say

It does not matter, red or blue

To verity we must belay

 

But truth is not so black and white

Each story wears its blinders

What happens in the dead of night

Lives on without reminders

 

A slight perceived between two friends

The pain no more less real

What once was strong with sorrow ends

Resentment now congeals

 

An accident at 4th and Yale

Two angry men lay blame

Dashcam footage can’t curtail

An auto now in flames

 

A mother does not understand

Beloved son now silent

Abuse she could not comprehend

He’s now no more compliant

 

Before the law two partners stand

A contract torn to shreds

What once was held by shake of hand

Now lays among the dead

 

Three sides to every story, see

What happened, not so clear

But each believes wholeheartedly

Tall standing, free of fear

 

An audience soon catches sight

And crowds for each grow louder

You stupid fool, you know I’m right

From mayor to wallflower

 

Believe the victim, he’s a liar

He wanted it, they laugh

How tall she stands under fire

His defense is just a gaff

 

Opinions from the public grow

A court of strangers know the way

We’ve never met but still I know

Clear as mud within the fray

 

Shouts and accusations lie

Around a frozen moment

We can’t forget how best we try

Still caught up in the current

 

But just because I know my truth

Does not make it fact

That once upon a night in youth

Clarity I never lacked

 

Two stories stand in equal weight

Contradicting yet both real

Perfection can’t participate

Rose glasses forged with steel

 

My history, I know it well

Believe me now you must

This story of what once befell

Can my own memory I trust?

 

You ask again,  a diff’rent phrase

To sort the truth from lies

But sifting through those sordid days

Is met with only sighs