The man he could have been

A stranger on a street today watched,

a mother desperately trying to keep her son awake,
blood all around where his body lay,

The mother was surprised to see someone speeding by his face distorted with hate,
She wondered what her baby did to make someone pick up a pistol and aim it point-blank at his face,

A stranger in court today observed,

a mother’s bewildered daze,
as her son was asked to explain why he shot a teenager the other day,

The mother wondered if she could have prevented her child from shooting another human being,
Maybe if she had tried to rear him another way,

A stranger in jail today saw,

a mother weep as if her heart was about to break,
as the guards dragged an angry and scared nineteen-year-old away,

She knew she had lost her opportunity,
to turn her son into the man he could have been.