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Praise Song – after the Arbery verdict

November 24, 2021

by Barbara Crooker

Praise the light of late November,
the thin sunlight that goes deep in the bones.

Praise the crows chattering in the oak trees;
though they are clothed in night, they do not
despair. Praise what little there’s left:
the small boats of milkweed pods, husks, hulls,
shells, the architecture of trees. Praise the meadow
of dried weeds: yarrow, goldenrod, chicory,
the remains of summer. Praise the blue sky
that hasn’t cracked yet. Praise the sun slipping down
behind the beechnuts, praise the quilt of leaves
that covers the grass: Scarlet Oak, Sweet Gum,
Sugar Maple. Though darkness gathers, praise our crazy
fallen world; it’s all we have, and it’s never enough.

~~~~~~~

Killing of Ahmaud Arbery

Fatal shooting in Georgia in 2020

3 men found guilty of murdering Ahmaud Arbery

On February 23, 2020, Ahmaud Marquez Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old black man, was fatally shot after jogging in a neighborhood near Brunswick in Glynn County, Georgia, United States. Arbery had been pursued by three white residents – Travis McMichael and his father Gregory, who were armed and driving a pickup truck, and William “Roddie” Bryan, who followed Arbery in a second vehicle. en.wikipedia.org

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