I knew this boy

with the deepest blue eyes

and a smile that could end

every war


and every time I look back

at every one of those days

I wish I’d have done something more


I knew this boy

with a mother who left

along with the warmth in his eyes

his father remarried to

a slim thing named Stella

and she never did leave his side


I knew this boy

with a heart like a stone

and eyes like the stormiest skies

He came to believe that

the world was his own

and no one was hurt by his lies.


I knew this boy

with the kindest of hearts

but he’d grown colder with the years that had passed

I’d bet my life that this boy would be alive
but nobody had bothered to ask.