Black Boy Poem

All his life he’s been told he wouldn’t amount to anything
Nothin’ but a black boy whose only dream should be living past eighteen
And that’s all they can be, living past eighteen
No hopes and aspirations of living in a better situation
Meaning no communication with friends and family that are of gang-affiliation
Cause he doesn’t want to be associated with anything gang, drug, or crime related
He’s already put to the side when people are notified
That he lives on the “bad side” of the city
Where things there aren’t too pretty
Where through the night he can hear the bang of a gun piercing through the air
Where he can practically taste the blood of the person’s body lying on the sidewalk
Where he can hear the shooter’s footsteps running away from the crime scene

Not knowing how he and his mom are going to survive
When they’re next meal is going to be
If they’ll arrive early enough at the shelter to get a bed
He wishes that life was a game of monopoly so he could pass go and collect $200
Because that money would be so useful right now
And when he is asleep on a night where for once
There seems to be no criminal activity in the streets
And the stars are twinkling in the night so bright
He sees God come to him in his dream
He tells him to stay strong and keep holding on
Because good things come to those who wait
He tells him not to let the weight of the world fall on his shoulders
And to not let obstacles get in the way from obtaining his dream
Because he does not put obstacles in his children’s way that he knows they cannot overcome
And over time he will come to be the man that he has always aspired to be
And in the future when he is the man he has always wanted to be
When he has gotten him and his mom out of the streets
When he has graduated from college magna cum laude with a bachelor’s and later a master’s degree
He will think that he did well for someone that came from the “bad side” of the city
And for a black boy whose only dream should be living past