THE GREATEST HEARTACHE (2025)* By Kevin “Rashid” Johnson

For the darker hue
It remains like slavery of olden days
At any moment
One’s dearest could be
Sold away
Or their existence
Stole away
Heartache wrenched from smiles
On a day
Begun with sunshine
Defiled…
Each moment lived
Pregnant with fear
Will the next be mines
Whose life is likely
To be torn asunder
Whose child might be
Going under
The cold hard earth?
The very life one birthed…
How does one give adequate
Words or verse
To the loss
Of one’s son or daughter?
How grievous the cost
Paid out of time, place and order
Stolen by a heartless thief
Pain that numbs
And defiles
Resentment that comes
From time together too brief
Words that express the deepest pain
Are all too mild
There is no grief
That compares
To the death of one’s child

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* Dedicated to my son Kwaivon Dejesus, who was gunned down on Oct 29, 2025 while attending a funeral in Richmond, Virginia, shortly after being released from prison.