O, Give Me Little Time to Pray

For Maurice A. Richards, 11 years old.

From East St. Louis. Killed, March 9, 2016

“In the future, these are to be a sign among you.

When your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’”

--Joshua 4:6

From the river bring six

stones   and set them in the place

where he was found

                                          let the old

women find their heart-cry   and lament

his finding

                       the old men  shall break

branches from the trees and cushion

his body  with the new  green leaves

do not bring the children

                                                    not one

until

              all is prepared

                                            then say

to all assembled    Bring the sacrifice

Let each one caress the stones   with

cold hands    and bleeding eyes

                                                             It is

Our heart that has been left to die

Our dream     that was   crushed by

the machine that the darkness shields

Write his name

                              In sorrow

write his name

                                on these   and every

stone

for all to see

                           because he

was never seen until

                                          too late

for us to know

                              how our darkness

condemns us

                               if we do this

we were told

                        your hearts will

live again   and gain time

                                             to learn

to see

before

another sacrifice

is found

                                                                16  March  2016

[Maurice A. Richards, age 11, was struck by a hit-and-run driver, during the night of Wednesday, March 9, 2016, near the site of Post Place and State Street, in East St. Louis, Illinois. After he was struck he lay in the street, while traffic drove past him, until two motorists stopped. Ms. Willie Beard, one of the motorists who stopped, said that when she saw the driver in front of her stop suddenly, “she saw him go over to something in the road and then heard him scream: “’This is a baby! This is a baby!’”  Ms. Beard and the first driver stayed with Maurice Richards, holding him, until he was transported to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis. Maurice Richards died an hour after he was admitted to the hospital. (From the story in The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 11, 2016, A1.)]