On the 58th Anniversary of the Bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church

A poem in tribute to the four Black girls who were killed in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing of 1963

A memorial statue to the four girls killed in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing; Credit: Washington Post Photo/Hal Yeager

Almost.
Six decades ago.
Evil detonated inside.
The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.
Cynthia.
Addie Mae.
Carol.
Carole.
Gained halos.
We ask.
The lord to watch.
Between them and us.
In their eternal absence.
One and one and one and one f…