BE HOME BY MIDNIGHT, ALL IN THE MEMO.
FIVE GUYS AND SIX GIRLS PACKED IN A LIMO.
KEPT WITH NO DRINKING OR SMOKING OR DRUGS.
NO SEX, ONLY LAUGHING, WITH KISSES AND HUGS.
FROM A BOY TO A YOUNG MAN, WANTING TO BE COOL.
LIKE MANY OTHER KIDS HIS AGE WANTS TOO.
FRESHMAN IN COLLEGE, IN COMES THE GAME CHANGERS.
MILES FROM HOME, AMONGST A BUNCH OF STRANGERS.
DESPITE THE TEMPTATIONS THAT WE KNOW EXISTS
HE STAYED ON TRACK AND MADE THE DEAN’S LIST.
HIS MOTHER AND SISTER WEREN’T GETTING ALONG.
FIFTEEN YEARS OLD, BUT THOUGHT SHE WAS GROWN.
THEN OUT OF NOWHERE, HIS MOM BECAME ILL.
CORONAVIRUS BROUGHT DEATH TO HER HEELS.
WORRIED ABOUT HIS MOTHER, NO DOUBT.
HE HURRIED TO CATCH THE NEXT FLIGHT OUT.
BACK IN THE CITY, IN NEED OF A RIDE.
2 AM, NOT A TAXI IN SIGHT.
HE CALLED UP A FRIEND HE KNEW IN HIGH SCOOL.
SHE SAID SHE’D BE THERE IN TEN MINUTES….COOL.
A BLOCK FROM THE HOSPITAL, THEY WERE HIT BY A DRUNK DRIVER.
BOTH CARS EXPLODED. THERE WERE NO SURVIVORS.

VERNON BROWN
DOC #482002