"Make a Different"

She is now sixteen….
A birthday passed without laughter or celebration.
She now sat in class, full of desperation,
Look at a world, she only see suffering.
Unable to read, a soul forsaken;
SUCCESS? - HA! -that's not in her imagination.
She dreams of release, of returning to her parents.
Of a few drop of poisons, she’ll be happy again….

A gentle hand reached out to her shoulder.
A friend, a teacher, a brother or sister.
“You are not alone; not now, not ever.
Give me your hands, we’ll walk this life together.”
Simple compassion, simple gestures;
Saved a young girl’s precious laughter.

The color of his skin is their reasons.
Lost jobs, lost lives, lost visions in daily concessions.
Terror in his sleeps while in total isolation.
Why must he live life in unjust discrimination?
Resisting the drugs he sees on the streets,
the easier life that could be his…
“What right do they have to criminalize me?”
How much longer can he resists his needs?

A person walked up and offered him a drink…
“A man is a man no matter the color of his skin.
His fortitude, his life, his everlasting ambitions;
Can’t die from fear embedded oppositions.
The true human color is not that of racism;
We can do better for our children.”