Do ye hear the children, O my brothers,
Ere the sorrow comes with years?
They are leaning their young heads against their mothers —
And that cannot stop their tears.
The young lambs are bleating in the meadows;
The young birds are chirping in the nest;
The young cats are meming in the internet;
The young flowers are blowing toward the west—
But the children, O my brothers,
They are crying bitterly!
They are crying in the playtime of the others,
In the country of the free.
Do not tell the poor young children, O my brothers,
To look up to Him and pray —
So the blessed One, who blesseth all the others,
Will bless them another day.
They answer, "Who is God that He should hear us,
While the bullets singe the air
While you take this bitter fear and trap us
In concrete prisons without cheer?
Would you have us never see the sunshine,
Or enjoy the light of day?"
Yes, they are worn with tragedy, unrelentingly maligned
But they're not bowing to the greed of the NRA.
They look up with their pale and sunken faces,
And their looks are terrible to see,
For their grief abhorrent, draws and presses
Down the cheeks of infancy—
"Your guns," they say, "took the life of our dear friends
How can you justify these means — or defy our ends
We need gun control," their voices ring out clear
They need to know — this time, will you hear?"
And for all the little children whose blood is on your hands
Will you stand up and do the right thing
Words are so very cheap. Now, in this time of tragedy
We should let the children weep.
Let them weep! let them weep!
"How long," they say, "how long, O cruel nation,
Will you stand, to move the world, on a child's heart,
Stifle down with a mailed heel its palpitation,
And tread onward to your throne amid the mart?
Our blood splashes upward, O our tyrants,
And your purple shews your path;
But the child's sob curseth deeper in the silence
Than the strong man in his wrath!"
A.J. Ponder with many apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning (The Original Poem
"The Cry of the Children is here. It was written to protest horrific child labour laws, but it's protesting the same people - people who profit off suffering, or use God's will to justify the unjustifiable)
I've been absolutely blown away by how well the young adults of Parkland Florida have bravely stood up to tell their stories and call for sensible gun control. And I've been absolutely horrified by the abuse they've received online. These young adults should have had time to weep, but knowingly or not, we've been preparing them all their lives for this time.
Let me be very clear, I have family who love their guns - I am not advocating taking their guns away. Nor are those teens. They are calling for sensible gun measures. There's no point blaming the FBI or local law enforcement for these events when their hands have effectively been tied by poor legislation. Gun control is a part of being civilized, just like wearing seat-belts. It's a little something that is regulated, not to undermine freedom, but to recognize the sanctity of life.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” MLK
A.J.
Have a great week everybody. Go out and do great things, the world needs you. :)
While I've been out having an epic fantasy quest of my own (pictures below - including sword fighting!) , there's been a so much happening in the world of poetry, book releases and more.
Okay - that was tortuous barbarism - and I bet you hated every second of it - but there you go - I had a ball. And that's (more or less) the form of a sonnet, with just a few liberties taken. And I only mostly hate it, because there's something about the volta cutting across everything like a crescendo in a library, that's such fun.
If you're on Facebook you might like to sign up to the event, or you can just come along, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone there.
