Who III

You ask who
Am I to judge
Another’s deed
Or action or motive
And you are right in that
I have probably done worse
Though I hope not and you ask
Me to judge a person far in the past
In another age and place when we
Saw the stars from a different bit
Of angle the sun more yellow or
The moon less scarred and it
Is beyond me even to judge
Another today in my world
Which I have had to do
Reluctantly but fairly
As I could so how
Do we say slave
Holder Thomas
Jefferson was
Wrong to be
Father to
Sarah
Hemmings
Children when
Sarah looked so
Much like her half
Sister who was the
Dead wife of Jefferson.
Grief must have overwhelmed
Him and Sarah was most likely a
Willing consolation in a world of
Accepted slavery we have now
Rejected for a century and a
Half as wrong so yes we do
And can condemn slavery
In America in the far past
And we do hold Thomas
To our ethical standard
But not his moral one
Which is why ethics
Is what we know to
Be true always but
Morals are what
Our society tells
Us is right or is
Wrong at the
Time and so
Flexible as
Times are
Changing
Everything is
In constant motion
Even right from wrong.
Do we tear down Monticello
Because Jefferson missed his
Dead wife and Sarah consoled him.
I like history with the bark on
And I accept people in
The past as they
Were not as
I think they
Should have
Been and hope
I am one day so judged.