The Poetic City: “The Secret of His Serenity 9/17/2016”

Fire Company Mausoleum (photo by: Derek Blackadder)

 

The Secret of His Serenity

 

He claimed to know one thing 

and one thing only: that it didn’t matter

if you were black or white,

rich or poor, man or woman… 

we are all heading to the same place.

 

Over and over I heard him repeat 

his litany of the obvious…

And, if Fred had not been Fred, 

it would have whizzed past me

with hardly a “so what.” 

But Fred was Fred:

poor, Black, uneducated, and

always behind the eight ball. 

 

He lived in half a shotgun double,

with his wife and four children.

 

He worked a hot dirty job,

drove a shiny second-hand car

that was nothing but trouble, 

and he had no prospects 

for advancement.  

 

Yet, Fred was the most peaceful 

man I had ever met. 

 

It was New Orleans, 1968,

and the world was aflame 

with assassination and anger.

 

I needed to understand the secret 

of his serenity…

 

So, I studied Fred every chance I got…

Every time we talked, I listened.

 

Until one day it dawned on me why 

he was saying what he had to say 

every time he had the chance to say it. 

 

That it didn’t matter whether you 

are rich or poor, white or black, 

man or woman… We are 

all heading to the same place.