I stand on belief

A hard ground on which a young boy was shot dead

and his mother screamed My baby

I stand in a hood where it’s

be about it or turn your back on it

but no one makes it out alive

I stand in the doorway of what your future is made to be

and what you make it

To be or not to be

Believe or don’t believe me

But the world is held on the shoulders

of every elder caring for a helpless soul…

I stand here . . .