The newspaper said he was a man.

But he is or was a boy.

He had barely gone past the larger double digits

that marked his second decade of life.

The newspaper called him a man.

His papa called him Junior,

and he looked like he was all of 12.

The newspaper called him a man,

when they reported on his death.

Strike that, not death, murder.

They murdered a little boy,

who was barely a man,

with a life stretched out ahead of him

for the taking and making.

22. Gone. Life snuffed out

by the blade of an anonymous knife.

The newspaper called him a man.

We shall bury

our boy.