You would’ve been 25 today
And yet today, we have not been blessed with the graces of brown eyes, brazen golden shoulders
Telling the begotten tale of a black man’s prosperous survival
In a cruel world meant to defeat him
We didn’t get the chance to hear the sound of your arms wrapping around your mother
As she announced her bid for the office
Or see the thoughts flowing
Out of your eyes as you gazed
Into the clouds, creating space craft that would fly past the ionosphere
Today, you would’ve been 25
Sharing memories of adolescence and manhood with those that follow you
Chugging a beer with your kinfolk as your father beams at you proudly
Today, you would have been 25
And all we can do is mourn
For you and the millions of black Boyz
Whose hoodies are viewed as a threat to a society that views them as your bullet proof vest