my tears drip down
to the ground &
burn––
police must be
our trusted
friends
they have guns
in this city––
thank God,
we do not
we trust them
to deliver us
from evil––
to care for every
child & every
grey hair
on our
heads
is it fair for us
to beg them
to love us?
to kill is not
a matter of
institutional protocol
but simple heart
failure
the color of all
living human blood is
red––
& every heart-beat is
sacred