There is another Valentine’s

Day lost in Vermont

Teddy Bears and heart

Shaped boxes –

A year ago

We saw it take

Away the lives of

Fourteen students,

Three adults –

Gunned down like countless others

We don’t mention

Because they were too black

Or too poor for sympathy –

Today we see a generation

Kept in cages, stolen

By a forced adoption

while we enjoy white privilege

with dead flowers.

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Ben Ditmars (C) 2019