We Did Nothing
As the shots rang out,
They began to run and hide
Texting and calling their loved ones
To tell them “I love you” one last time
Blood stained lunch boxes and backpacks
Litter the classroom floor
A teacher lays motionless by her
Classroom door
And yet… we did nothing
“Less gun laws”, they say, as another
Child dies
Shedding meaningless crocodile tears
As they watch grieving parents cry
Politicians too worried about their
Campaign funds
To pass any legislation that would make
It harder to purchase a gun
And yet… we did nothing
Pointless debates continue among the left, right, and
The “in-betweeners”
Meanwhile, a panicked mother arrives to school searching
For her daughter, screaming “Have you seen her?”
The shooter set off many red flags, but nothing was
Done because everyone thought he was bluffing
Ask any child what they did to deserve to feel
Unsafe at school
Their answer… “We did nothing”
And they’re right, they did nothing to have their
Beautiful lives taken away
Imagine going to school with the constant
Thought “Is today the day?”
The day when a deranged person decides to
use his AR-15 to wreak havoc in a safe space
A weapon he should’ve never been allowed
To get in the first place
So years from now when a child looks at us
And says, “I want to ask you something…”
“What did YOU do to prevent more kids
From being killed?”
Our answer cannot be… “We did nothing”
By Tan Shivers
A poem from Disarm: A Themed issue Responding to Mass Shootings in America
Biography:
Tan Shivers is an IT Specialist from Charleston, SC. She has been writing poetry since the age of seven. Her work has been featured in Transcendent Zero Press’ Harbinger Asylum. Poetry has always been one of her favorite therapeutic outlets.
This is the stark reflection of the gun violence pervalent in our country.Every another has become a statistics rather than an outage.This is the new normal in this heinous world.
Reblogged this on Megha's World and commented:
Come read one of the poem from the series “Disarm” currelty featured by the Riding Phoenix.It talks about the gun violence and the nasty effects of it.
We have become a nation who allows are government to put greed before the people, before the children , so far we have done nothing but admire these brave children who will speak out. Thanks for telling it like it is.