in response to UN child law article 6 section 1

to Cedrick, que descanse en paz young soldier

you are not my brother, my son, my lover, my nephew, my friend, my student,
my teacher, my grandson, my dad, my great-grand father

people walk by the corner bodega,
stop
eyes wander to the spontaneous and planned tags,
to the posters, the teddy bears, the empty liquor bottles
illuminated by the light of
the candles

candles that burn brightly through the night,
keeping the thoughts tight
through a winter snow storm
through an angry bitter blizzard of police, sirens,
wails escaping the mouths of young ladies and young mothers,

a single bullet tearing through the broad rays of a 4pm daylight saving times sun
missing middle school children’s bodies, touching their souls
hitting the intended “target”

oh yes the candles burn, the light continues.

nothing can dim the brightness of the sun, of fire
even in the absence of life

and each time I pass,
another person pays their respects to this fallen soldier
a nod, a sign to the cross, a bowed head, a teary eye,
an emptiness in the heart,
not knowing even where to start
and yet they pass

I pass again…candles still so bright
illuminated in the winter light

I stop to give ceremony at that corner store

there is a new feeling in the air
one that understands the loss on the block
but we don’t even talk
pass each other with maybe a smile
and we’re still separated by at least a mile

we ask for permission from the ancestors to begin
we pray for strength and guidance
and free our hopes and fears to the universe
ask forgiveness from Mother Earth
for how we treat her children.

and the smoke from our ceremonial herbs rise,
our prayers stretching to reach the sky
and
the roots
of
our pain

l@ h1ja d3 lUn@

sonando...