Visiting 16 East Basin Drive

September 9, 2020

I step into your hallowed chamber. History celebrated on slabs of marble. 

My heart cannot help but quicken its beat, my feet feel lighter as I 

Walk up to your likeness, feeling small before your pedestal and 

towering shadow.

Here you are, surrounded by the eternal words you penned, 

Declarations of liberty that have been recited, rehearsed, and rewound, 

Music to the oppressed. Your ink crippled kingdoms, and made a mockery

Of monarchies.

You look so noble as you peer out past the white pillars of your palace, 

As if your eyes see into the future of the beloved country you helped birth, 

Have we disappointed you, I wonder, have we failed to love and live up to 

Your ideals? 

                                                                                                                                                        Did you?

I used to see you with wonder, awe, and reverence, I still do, 

In some ways perhaps, you are still the master of the quill, after all. 

But in your other hand you held a lash, maintaining your mastery over

Other humans. 

Etched in the wall, your most famous verse, “All men are created equal,”
You wrote. You must have been proud as the ink dried on the parchment.

Truths, “unalienable,” but you alienated invariably the endowment of the children 

you created.

Did you wonder if you were being hypocritical, as you admonished a 

King across an ocean, laying the blame for the trade at his throne?

A sinister insinuation given the perpetuating sins going on at 

Your home.

                                                                                                                                           Two-faced tyrant.

Part of me wants to attack your likeness, turn your legacy to dust, 

And part of me realizes that you are now a symbol, no longer flesh-and-blood.

You are more than the sum of your days, more than the sum of your deeds, 

Or misdeeds. 

You represent something you were too weak to uphold, 

Your image, and the words you transcribed on humanity’s heart should 

Not be tainted by your cowardice, or by your avarice, you see, they have

Transcended you.  

So perhaps you should remain intact - perhaps the world needs to 

Remember that words can defeat tyrants, that dark men can produce profound 

Light?      

I don’t know... I turn and walk away, unsure of when I can return to

Liberty’s idol.

                                                                                                                                         Goodbye, Thomas.