A Poem from MMM – By Elmo B

Jenn Cohen | October 1, 2012 | 0 Comments

Death Doesn’t Know

by Nathan Schmit, Youth On Record

The youth we work with overcome huge obstacles, which lead to depth in their understanding about what it means to be human. I find this poem from one of my students quite profound. Elmo B is a Youth On Record dream student. He is the first to volunteer when we are setting up or taking down our equipment, always saying to me, “I got your back.” He carries the heaviest load, and then continues with the second heaviest. Elmo B is one of the producers emerging from a remarkable group of students from Third Way Center, Lowry. Congratulations to this community of musicians and their leader Tim. The music they are making is some of the best we have ever heard. Check out all of our students’ music at youthonrecord.org.

Death Doesn’t Know

Death doesn’t know age / it’s just a number on a stone

Death doesn’t know names / it’s just written on something cold / and the shoutings when loved ones wake alone

Death doesn’t know love / just memories from stories told / loved ones left to grieve alone

Death doesn’t know patience / it takes when it has urges

Death doesn’t know loneliness / it comes in numbers

Death doesn’t know tears / for it too cries alone

Death doesn’t know innocence / it takes the angels, even the littlest / so many things death doesn’t know / so many times it has come knocking on my door

One day I will let it in / and share with it, teach it, let it know / all the things it still doesn’t know

I will give Death the dates / the times / the places /of all the loved ones / it has taken from me

I will share with Death / every name / of every soul / it took before their time

I will give the tears / it has caused

I will let Death know / even though it may not feel / those it takes from / is the worst steal

I will look death in the eyes and beg for it to stop, after all, with so many lost heaven is getting full

But all these things, Death doesn’t know

–Elmo B

Elmo, we got your back.

Youth On Record, a program of Flobots.org, teaches music production and lyric writing in residential treatment centers across Denver and beyond, as a means of supporting their specific treatment goals. It is truly amazing what many young people will do and say when given the opportunity.

Founded in 2007 by the internationally known Denver based hip-hop collective Flobots, Flobots.org connects underserved youth across Colorado with music and empowerment education. Led by a network of professional musicians, artists and educators, Flobots.org programs are designed to harness the power of music and those who love it.