Shame

How can I look you in the eye, Eugene?
You know the truth, and I do, too. There
Never will be equal standards, equal
Opportunities, or even equal freedom from
The threat of violence for us. I'm white.
Nobody looks at me with fear or hatred.
I am in the club. I'll always be okay,
While you are stared at, cursed and stopped
By cops for nothing. One wrong move
(A slippery term) could find you laid out
On a slab, a brace of bullets in your back,
A crowd of crying relatives, and, maybe,
People marching to protest another unjust
Death which no one needs to justify, and will
Not be condemned, and all the whites, my fellow
Monsters, fearing, hating, call for order.
Black lives do not matter, and they never will.
What matters is that your sort is imprisoned
If they're kept alive at all. I know that we both
Know that, and it is why I cannot look
You in the eye, Eugene.



Poetry by Lawrence Beck The PoetBay support member heart!
Read 65 times
Written on 2020-08-31 at 00:24

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