STEPHANIE, A POEM

Stephanie

by Larry Delano Coleman

 My heart bleeds for Stephanie, a friend from long ago.
So pure, so chaste, so smart, so true.
Yet whose life was so desperately poor!

Teased at school by mindless classmates, she rarely ever came !
But when she did, her test scores and her class work were excellent just the same!

Far too soon, she had to tend to her mother's younger ones! Though truth be known, at age 12 her life had just begun!

We were black and poor and segregated and could not comprehend, that our brutal, mirthful teasing only undermined our friend!

Fifty years have passed, and now I'm tasked, to rationalize my complicity--in the peer-driven scandal against my friend, whose sin was felicity!

Forgive me, Stephanie, wherever you are -- for mistreating you that way! And should we meet yet again in life, I will unburden myself and say:
I spurned your proffered love for me for fear of others' disdain. If I could do it over, Stephanie, my love you would surely gain!

I heard somewhere that you'd become a doctor, who later committed suicide. How sad such news made me feel, all glum and hollow inside.

The lesson I leave for the benefit of all girls or boys: no matter how long one may live, true love is never destroyed!