Another Funeral / Tehavis Price

This poem was written by my heartbroken dad Jon C. Randall, who was poetry mentor at 

Metea Valley High School for at risk youth.  Dad said Tehavis was a sweet, sweet spirit who was murdered when attempting to leave a party that had turned violent. He was an innocent victim.  

RIP Tehavis Price

Another Funeral on June 23, 2015


Why Lord are we here again...
In this sacred space so still,
So filled with shadows of silence and sorrow?
And who was this young man,
A still life snapped at nineteen years,
In flat profile, eyes closed, reposed
Forever,
Framed by satin and silence,
Forever?
He was Tehavis Price,
Owner of a life uniquely his.
He was friend --- or merely peer ---
Of all these young men and women
--- and me ---
Gathered in faceted gloom,
On a warm, June Thursday noon,
Rather than at work or play.
He was Tehavis Price,
Metea Valley High School Class of 2014,
Whose life vacancy, unlike his grave,
Cannot be filled.
Come, let’s cry for our young friend.
Hush! Hush. Amen.