gun victim

i was moving up the ladder…
a tear for Rikki
 
i was going to be happy
finishing school
blooming out my post-teen years
like an eloquent apostrophe
with all the rules
for wicked fools
at the back of my head
 
passions force-cooled
under the flames
of angry guns
spit precocious deaths
in the face of
unsuspecting innocence
there life’s deep depths
lack commonsense
for those who linger
in the shallows
where false bliss
pisses and wallows
 
God warned me
to be vigilant  
with my soul
as a supplicant
and aspiring applicant
for the covenant
of His promise
in a dissonant
regiment
 
but the devil’s
bevel
on the level
was just evil
when he measured
what i treasured
the serpent said
there was no certain death
with all my life before me
ye shall not surely die
for the cat has nine lives
and you are but a sweet rose
not yet plucked
for self-destruct
 
I was going to marry
my boyfriend
and give him babies
i would
if i could
embrace my motherhood
but now i shall never feed a nation
when a child opens his mouth
to take aborted milk
and if the world says mama
i would never hear
my infant’s lullaby
rising to fill the valleys
or climb the mountains
of my endless dreams
for my screams
ring out
upon my last breath
and the ones i love
now weep over my stillness
i hate the killness
of the barking gun
that makes my blood run
icy cold
too long before my
days grow old
 
still, amid life’s desperate screams
my loved ones will absolve
with intimate resolve
my fallen will
as they distill
my vintage from the kill
for heaven knows that
i had dreams
i had ambitions
and i was moving up the ladder…
 
© Copyright 2021 March 24
by Clyve A. Bowen♫