Falling Petals, Flowers of Youth

The  heat of the fight

raged in their being

as they hit the street

in white hot fury

shots sang out

like a wicked

independence day salute

young sons of

fatherless mothers

collapsing in a crimson deluge

of endless despair

hopelessness animated

in the death of angry youth

no nine to five

mortgage, diploma, or dreams

these little children suffer

as we sit in fortresses of fear