When it started,
We did not scream like the movies,
Or flee,
Or shout,
Or charge out
With weapons of our own.
At the pool, we waited.
Fell to the ground.
Glass shattered,
Sirens called.
And we stepped, well-trained,
Down stone stairs—
Hands visible—
Until we reached the street.
Where we ran.
Those of us trapped,
He in the hall and we in our homes,
Didn’t check
If anyone was hurt,
If anyone was left.
We turned off lights, grabbed cats and dogs,
Lay on balconies and prayed for a god
We could pray to.
When officers found him on the fourth floor,
Two shots fired, and he fell through glass
And fell and fell.
Were we to mourn his passing?
We didn’t.
We did not scream like the movies,
Or flee,
Or shout,
Or charge out
With weapons of our own.
At the pool, we waited.
Fell to the ground.
Glass shattered,
Sirens called.
And we stepped, well-trained,
Down stone stairs—
Hands visible—
Until we reached the street.
Where we ran.
Those of us trapped,
He in the hall and we in our homes,
Didn’t check
If anyone was hurt,
If anyone was left.
We turned off lights, grabbed cats and dogs,
Lay on balconies and prayed for a god
We could pray to.
When officers found him on the fourth floor,
Two shots fired, and he fell through glass
And fell and fell.
Were we to mourn his passing?
We didn’t.
