All praise be to Allah in every situation, with three exclamation points. Even in the face of death, Khaliifa Williams understood what Missouri governor Mike Parson never will-this life is so much more than a slow crawl to death’s door. That kind of non-living is for the soul-less, something Khaliifa was not.

i hope his travel is light as a feather/as light as his soul is/may his bones become one with the same earth that will consume the greedy when their time comes/his body be a resting place for its gentle creatures/until then/i hope angels lay his burdens upon the shoulders of all those complicit and his murder/i pray the tears of his loved ones nourish the ground/i hope flowers grow in the wake of its water/its salt find its way into the eyes of american imperialism/i watched flowers bloom across my brother’s face when his friend was shot/i heard their leaves cry too/i know about the petals black boys shed before they’re ready to blossom/Khaliifa got his flowers from far us too late/may bouquets follow him into the next life.