"Our children are being damaged in ways we don't even know about yet. In my own community, I see more helicopters flying around with searchlights than I ever saw in Vietnam."
--George Buntin, executive director, Baltimore NAACP
Again,
I lie awake.
Outside,
I hear loud voices,
gunshots, screams.
Men run through the alley,
laughing.
Another pursues,
cursing.
Fools, I fume.
They play, but
life is snatched away
with the speed of a bullet.
I circle through the bedrooms
touching each child
pulling flimsy covers
over fragile limbs
remembering the God Of Daniel
in the lion's den.