A Poem
By Emily Whorley
[Emily Whorley is a recent high school graduate from Stafford County, Virginia.]
The idea is balance, right?
Then show me the balance.
Show me.
Show me what evens out all the death.
All the trauma,
All the hunger,
The Fear
The Pain
Disease
Apathy
Violence
Terror
Carelessness
Willful ignorance.
Tell me, where’s the balance?
You say “Just be happy” or “Smile.”
I don’t want to smile.
I don’t want to “Just be happy.”
I don’t want the slogans and sayings and empty promises.
Your “Thoughts and prayers” are not enough
Your apologies are cheap
Your speeches are hollow.
Do not tell us it can be remedied when you don’t listen,
Or see,
Not really.
All that you’ve said will change, hasn’t.
Not really.
Not when you move on as soon as it fades from your story
When people stop posting about it.
Help me find the balance in a place where our leaders care more about numbers then people. Where students are trying just to
survive,
And you want to talk about their SOL scores?
Show me the balance in a place where a person can fear for their life because of what they look like
Or where they’re from
Or what religion they believe
Or simply by going to school.
Where a person can slaughter a nation and
feel justified.
Where people die from broken hearts.
Where people gun down first graders
Or civilians in a grocery store.
Where people live believing there is nothing
for them
Because no one’s bothered to show them
otherwise .
I am on my knees
God, show me
the balance.
