The Lesson

I was a little boy
Very much wanting
To be like my father.

Look nobody in the eye
My father told me.
Looking people in the eye
Is to challenge them
And to challenge them
Is to fight them
He taught.

I spent years
Avoiding eye contact.

The few times
I made contact
Were accidental.

Even after that person
And I
Separated
Were miles apart
I continued to feel the watery fear
Making my legs weak
My breath shallow.

As a young man
A day came
Eye contact was unavoidable.

American cities flamed
That summer.
Distrust and fear abounded.
My eyes
And those of another
Met.

I felt the raw challenge
In the electric stare
Pulsing from eyes
In the face of a black teen.

I stared back fiercely
Unblinking.

He did the same.

I furrowed my brow
To appear menacing
To seem ready to fight
To go to war.

He did the same.

We passed one another
On the sidewalk
Each allowing the other
Wide berth.

Passing my adversary
Head on the swivel
I kept my eyes on target.

He did the same.

I remembered my father's lesson:
Avoid eye contact
Or be ready to fight.

His did the same.

We might have been friends
But that we had eyes.