Book of Mary V

Before Mary's eyes,

someone like a kind stranger

wearing a straw hat

dropped his African hand drum

and, riddled with holes, it broke.

Bullet cases rained

on the hot summer pavement

when the drummer fell.

Mary prevented his fall,

taking him into her arms.

"Drop him," one cop warned.

"I cannot let this man die!"

Mary responded.

The officer tried to shoot,

but a Lyft steered off the road.

Colliding into

a blockade of police cars

while Mary escaped.

The scarlet painted straw hat

descended onto Worth Street.

R.L.P. Auriga

Hempstead, New York