His fevered breaths
Rasping past dry and cracked lips, Once brimming with the promise
The promise of life, of an education, Of all the wonderful accommodations that we are so readily assured.
The "American dream".
In primary school we never heard, never fathomed. The uncountable no, no.
The uncounted.
Those that were never assured
of anything. There was no promise of a life.
No promise of safety, of nourishment, of shelter. And especially no promise of affection.
Because in our eyes it is deserved.
Because in our eyes they have in some way earned Who they were born to, where they grew up,
the color of their skin, their parents preferred poison.
The novelty of the "American dream"
never bestowed upon him
never to come to fruition
Shielding his mother from her own self destruction, he sacrificed his protection in pursuit of another's.
The unbridled vision of perfection
once danced through his mind,
now executes a ghastly jig across
the calloused outer surface of his bruised, diseased soul.