YUSUF
(from The Men We Were Meant To Be)
Others called him
nice
and kind -
as if he were deaf and blind
to what they quacked
behind his back.
Yet, in his tender smile
others could settle
miles and miles
of fear
and quiet cries.
He once heard a bird
in the summer dawn
being shouted at,
and stoned,
and he thought,
look…
same like I.
And he saw
a bird
sing her way
back into the sky.



