Life Class

By John I. Blair

He said he thought
He understood the violence now.

He’d felt, and nursed, the sting
Of so much meanness
In his narrow New York life
And fed the loosely muzzled
Rage inside.

But what he did not,
Could not understand,
What nothing in his 50 years
Prepared him for,
Was peace;

And he cursed the name
Of those who tried.

©2006 John I. Blair