The Day Denny Died

THE DAY DENNY DIED

I cried the day

That Denny Died.

Struck down by a rock,

By some mean youths.

I can picture him cowering,

A young child in fear,

A young mind trapped

In the body of a man.

Was he struck down

Because he was different?

He was not much threat.

The reason he was killed,

I will never know,

But I grieve for him,

And his family I know.

Why must the innocent -

The meek and the mild-

Suffer injustice,

Even at the hand of a child?

Bob Richards

Darkness of Despair

DARKNESS OF DESPAIR

It steals upon us silent and unseen

The darkness of despair.

Who knows when their actions

Bring darkness of despair.

Words said and words unsaid

Vessel for darkness of despair.

Love unrequited and love lost

Bring darkness of despair.

The eternal struggle with no respite

Brings darkness of despair.

Let acts of random kindness

Fight the darkness of despair.

Say the works of kindness

Repel the darkness of despair.

Give your heart to love freely

Defeat the darkness of despair.

Bob Richards

ON BEARING BURDENS

Is there amongst us

Any women or man

Who, for a while,

Like a colossus stands

With feet wide spread

And broad back bent

To shoulder the load

For those more spent?

Often standing alone

Between pillars of strife,

Trying to protect

A lover or wife.

For those less able,

Our hearts open wide.

Giving the more feeble

A haven to hide.

When we too stumble,

And we grow weak-

Too proud to be humble,

Too stubborn to speak-

Well we too find

Someone with might,

Our white knight,

To put our life right?

Bob Richards