If Only

Photo by Anne Shurley

History is much colder

than you ever imagined,

far warmer than you’ve dreamed,

   more dangerous than you ever thought,

   less glamorous than we’ve written it,

   and even more boring

   than the latest generation sees it.

To be sure, there are many lessons

to be learned from its study;

but we dare not fool ourselves

into believing the version currently playing

at the Rialto of Memory Lane

is any less a fairy tale than the stories

we read to our grandchildren.

   When we see ourselves

   as its preservationists,

   we would do well to remember

   that the thing to which we naturally cling

   is mostly a figment of skewed reminiscence;

that our own constitutions

would likely wilt beneath the weight

of its actual ancient burden;

and that its primary purpose

is to give us wisdom and courage

to move forward, not to seduce us,

siren-like, to wistfully turn back.

© 2015 Todd Jenkins