Poetry

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But What Are You Going To Do

With a push and a cry
A child is born into this world
The first born of a child
A fifteen year old girl

The father is long gone
He’s not ready nor does he care
The mother dwells on this reality
As the baby lovingly stares

Her family is poor and ashamed
That their child has reared her own
They feel she should be blamed
And tell her she should have known

Now school is no longer an option
There are many things to be bought
She contemplates adoption
But quickly dismisses that thought

The baby is crying and hungry
And the mother doesn’t know what to do
Now she’s feeling abandoned and lonely
Even wishing her life was through

She turns to the streets for a way
When all she needed from her family was a hug
She began selling her body for money
Then spending it all on drugs

Seventeen years and three children later
And the tables still haven’t turned
Her son is now caught in the cycle
Of this way of the world he had learned

If only someone had given him a touch
Instead of a long record at an early age
And now things were becoming too much
And he needed to release his rage

He began to rob and steal
Committing many, many, crimes
Finally an urge to kill
He was running out of time


His heart was now turning cold
And his mind always full of anger
This child born from a child was now bold
And to the community he became danger

For him life was often so hard
And always full of disappointments
His mother found out that she had aids
After making it to a doctor’s appointment

Now facing the loss of his mother
And not believing this life could be real
Not even knowing where he’d get money
For his and his brothers’ meal

He began to hustle and sell dope
And his money in street slang was long
“I’m hopeless so I’ll take away a crack head’s hope”
That was his motto even though it was wrong

He walked home on a familiar street
He had done so many, many times
Not knowing soon he himself would be
Another victim of crime

Out of the shadows came a dark figure
This robber was a friend
But this friend pulled the trigger
And brought this young man’s life to an end

You may ask, “Well who was this young man?”
I tell you you’ve seen him before
The one holding his pants up with his hand
As you walked by him at the corner store

The one you ignored on Sunday
As he walked past the church parking lot
The one you avoided on Monday
The one you didn’t even give a thought

Have you witnessed to that young man lately?
And told him that God loves him too
We know prayer is needed for them greatly
But what are YOU going to DO?

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