Cri de Coeur

This is no fairy-tale, or fable, a
cautionary folk-legend meant
to thrill the young and present a
moment in a morality tale
that goodness will prevail
over evil. This is reality, it is a
desperate story of losing youth
to the cruelty of impending
death, a potential they face
each time they acquire a street
drug fashioned to resemble
an opioid they feel compelled
to gravitate toward, a contest
between life and fatal attraction
to an industry built on
deception and the acquisition
of wealth enabling those
without conscience to live the
celebrity lifestyle they so
admire while studiously
ignoring the lives they place
at risk. Desperate parents turn
to the state to help their
children survive an epidemic
of death, deputizing the public
to administer an antidote
when the security apparatus
of the state fails to apprehend
the deadly trade while the
death toll rises reflecting the
impulsive nature of youth
subscribing to the compulsive
draw of the zeitgeist of their
desolate time in history.