History

You have learned most of your history
from novels, from writers
who create out of the madness of their times
a truth more true than reality,
a personal distortion of facts
into something more real to you
than history,
as you carry on the tradition,
writing in the early morning
trying to make sense
of all those things that are within your grasp,
but mere facts can not explain.

About this poem

As a child, I learned history more from novels than history books. And looking back, that was OK, I think.

Tom