LITTLE SHERDAVIA'S HEART CAN REST

The Raw and Uncut Version

by Official 1SP

featured in his literary debut,

'Act Like You Know: Pretrial + Poems'

https://amzn.to/49NtqvY

It happened on a precious day,

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day,

A round fired so mystical and astray

Took little Sherdavia's life away.

She was only nine years old...

Damon Darling, as hard as it seems,

You can imagine her hope and dreams,

Playing on the porch in the Pork-N-Beans

Until your mystical round intervenes.

She was only nine years old...

Yellowman, it was the day of peace,

So why a grown man fought in the streets,

When it could have just come to a cease

Instead of slaying a daughter, sister, or niece?

She was only nine years old...

For three strenuous years,

Mrs. Jenkins have to weep endless tears,

For Darling finally to confess

Now, little Sherdavia's heart can rest.

She was only nine years old...

The poem "LITTLE SHERDAVIA'S HEART CAN REST" recounts the tragic 2006 shooting of 9-year-old Sherdavia Jenkins in Miami, killed by a stray bullet during a gang-related gunfight between Damon "Red Rock" Darling and Leroy "Yellowman" Larose on July 1. Despite Official 1SP stating it occurred on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the actual incident happened in July.

LITTLE SHERDAVIA'S HEART CAN REST blends grief and justice, emphasizing the child’s innocence (“She was only nine years old…”) and the prolonged emotional toll on her mother, Mrs. Jenkins, who wept for three years until Darling confessed. The title reflects a sense of closure—“now, little Sherdavia's heart can rest”—only after accountability.

It critiques urban violence and lost innocence, using repetition to underscore the senselessness of her death. The invocation of Dr. King’s day—though inaccurate— Official 1SP adds symbolic weight, contrasting a day meant for peace with the reality of street violence.