Fentanyl caused 199 deaths daily in 2023
over a quarter of a people died from it since 2021
probably none of them known by you or me
but what a goddamn shame all these people
have been literally executed by this demon drug
it’s easy to blow it off; they’re not you or me
but they’re somebody, once a child who
was held in a mother’s arms, an innocent babe
that had such promise for living a good life
it’s so sad and so tragic that that child
grew up to only to die from a drug
the promise gone, the lights out, to many
just another fentanyl statistic, nothing more
to some probably losers who got their due
but they were just people, like you and like me
who probably didn’t have the advantages
the genetics, the mental faculties, the luck
of millions of more fortunate others
like those born into near perfect lives
with excellent mental and physical health
great genetics, decent nurturing families
no horrendous tragedies that break them
and probably less breakable minds
my hope is in the afterlife those who
died from that murderous, demon-like drug
get a chase to do a redo for a better outcome
in the afterlife or back in this lesser life.

Bob Boyd