Absolute Resolution

Perspective sings these shaded grays awake--
Long not for the surety of your youth
When absolutes were easy ground to stake:
Resolute positions absent of proof.

Maturity brings those faded days to fore,
Introspection births new philosophies,
Incredulity that I was so sure,
Now aware of my mind’s monstrosities.

Black
Black hats in westerns, bad luck from black cats,
Evil easily defined in pictures--
Such simple immemorial combat,
Basing bias on some scripture’s strictures

Shine the light of nuance on certitude:
Social stains once paid such veneration
Often spring from absolute platitudes—
Witness: American segregation.

White
Was a time when polite society
Cherished this immoral privilege.
Racially defining society,
Which is, by any measure, sacrilege

More than race, age, sex, division of creed,
We fall prey to baseless supposition
Showing certitude to justify deed
Seldom contrite of our own volition.

Life presents itself in the subtlest shades:
Chords of certainty birth arpeggios
Trailing our fervent youthful escapades
As certainty fades diminuendo.

Independent thought, born to make contrasts
Examines not just what but also why,
Begging youth's expectations be surpassed,
Asking what purpose Black and White belie

Resolve to witness your remaining days
Examining everything astutely--
Give consideration to all the grays,
Measure the minutia resolutely.