Before Their Time

Background photo by Clarissa Schwarz: https://www.pexels.com/photo/broken-watch-on-a-moss-covered-ground-12501261/

Behold the heart-Breaking News:

guns open fire, red color flies

illness ravages, bodies fail

drugs go down hard, the substance fries

cars wreck, a twisted, tragic tale

disaster strikes, chaotic skies

fight or flight, male versus female

Youth, “invincible”, claims it won’t die

die it might, though, and we wonder why

shy of “the age”, prime with undimmed eye

“Cry out!” we shout with despairing sigh

I won’t lie, it hurts, and here’s the drill:

fear tills and grows woe

rage fills to overflow

hate kills, blow by blow

anguish stills, a mental foe

blood spills and attracts the crow

mortality chills, cracks the status quo

media shills and hits too low

pride trills and heads toe-to-toe

a lack of reason or rhyme

love has gone cold, doused in grime

“no rest” is a pop pastime

madness of nickel and dime

faith caves after a hard climb

minds come unhinged as memes mime

Earth shakes at ev’ry clock chime

and still we seek an answer

to this existential crime:

why did they have to go

before their time?