I have buried

too many of

my son’s mentors

to believe this world

could ever be just.

until black men

can make it past

age twenty-five

we cannot claim

that the world is fair.

until then,

we must admit

the world is designed

to break them.

and there is no justice in that.

Mothers are shouldering

the burden of this

unbearable grief.

a crushing load no one

should be asked to carry.

so the world is poised

to break them too.

and I pray every day

that I don’t experience

the suffering of this grief

any more intimately

then at the arm’s length

with which I hold it now.

and in that prayer,

I find no comfort.

in that prayer,

there is no peace.

(c)2022. CMK