chrysalis

Chris:
Grew up
Aside his courageous
Chrysalis;
Not a brother-of-color
Any’d necessarily miss,
Were they per-usual dumb
To the singular honor
And co-opted naturality
Of his friendship—
Nails me numb,
Leaves me begging
For that same whip.
To hell’s-where with all
Who’d ‘scotch-skip his name,
Who he was and what he’s done,
Or shame-order-in the prejudice
He’s had to o’ercome
To become skyscraper tall,
That dark wall o’er his back,
Yet black-bricked in my face.
I’ve zero-shame
In turning more the mess
Than he was some
Predetermined disgrace—
Yet my heart does crack
For his having to fight
Far harder than I did;
Battle-cut and long-winded,
I’m, to the ends of antithesis,
So-proudly less
Than he
Is.