Explanation

What bravado
the boys of Sussex
displayed,

and I tried to explain
to my youngest child
after it all,

as we sat outside
the imperial brick
police station:

I spoke about
how some things are
rehearsed,

I talked about
missing empathy,
how thrusts of ego,

cocktails of drugs,
that itchy fug,
near-fungal,

under their skin,
will always
do them in.