Explained Away - Nana Grizol

Someone told a story

About a man who’d live through Hell

And stumbled, orphaned, to his home

To find the servants living well

And how they welcomed him like family

As they plotted out some deed

To kill him in his sleep and stay

To satisfy their greed

I thought of who it is who’s story gets remembered in the end

And through how many careful tellings does one practice their defense

Some nuances the narrator selectively omits

A once collective memory is destined to forget

Yeah we make decisions that account for the worlds that we live in

We make explanations that amount to the ones we envision

It isn’t just the horror of the way he killed those kids

But the way the tale was told explained away the deed he did

You know that everybody needs a place to live

You show your willfulness to ignorance with the council that you give

The testimonial performances belie the lies you’ve lived

Another actor on the podium feels slighted by the ways

And abstractions been amended on some broken, bygone days

Yeah but these politics have victims, they get stuck there in the space

Between the weight of great ideals and the narratives they shape

It wasn’t you there with the handgun, but your fax machine and pen

Your personal computer, and your business acumen

Appeal to a notion that we all deserve what we can reach for

That what sits in your sight is a God-given right

Yes in spite of the slights you can’t speak for

Sees fairness as a function of the rules that you can’t bend

Takes action over nothing but the naked will to win