Ode to History

My interest for you sparked

In the sixth grade

Your many colours and shades

Intrigued me

Whenever I looked closer, put my glasses on

You only became foggier

I followed you at the hunt across the Bering Strait

I followed you onto a ship in chains

I followed you through bloody snow, across the Delaware

I followed you into the White  House, where young men glared through plaster dust

I followed you from Georgia to Arkansas

And I cried too

I followed you into the forest at night, where dead black faces whispered beware

I followed you to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

I followed you to the back of the bus, to the front of the bus

To jail

I followed you around the railroads, we saw many a man get killed

I followed you to Montgomery, and to Washington DC

I followed you to Pearl Harbor

I followed you into kindergarten that day-- we were singing the Japanese alphabet...

When the city exploded

I followed you into a hijacked plane headed to the capital

It crashed in Pennsylvania

I followed you up a tower, where we could smell burning flesh

I followed you through the smoke of Ferguson Missouri

Well, friend, let me tell you something

Now it's my turn to lead