POETRY
Let Children Be Children
Prejudice is taught, let’s stop and do better
Children will stand on marbles again and
spoon-fed phobias or worse, brainwashed.
A man is vile and to be avoided and looked
down on if he talks different, looks different,
walks different, wears different, or worships
different.
For a man is not human if different.
Dingy streets that do not smell of roses like
your kempt garden are a blot in a beautiful
city of stars and full of ants, trample them,
brush them aside, uproot their colonies,
and build your dreams on them.
For aspiration is only for the privileged.
Children will stand on marbles again and
when they start to balance their bodies and
brains, they will despise the prejudice, the
hatred, and class divisions you shoved down
their throats.
When compassion still finds a way to smother
the seeds of primacy you planted in them,
love and kindness will sadly feel foreign…
