Headlines

It happened again, and it will happen tomorrow.

Someone will pull back metal and take from this world

A child. An adult. Snuff out joyous laughs and happy sighs,

Fill their last moments with tearful cries.

Boom!

Where is the line of enough?

13 now in schools this year, at least 4 for every month,

And 129 total now for 2023. It will grow.

In grocery stores, at clubs, libraries.

All the places we must go are not safe,

For us or those we would raise and foster.

How do we Sheppard children to death, trauma, and loss?

Land of the free. Land of blood.

Land endless violence and lost hope.

We traded safety for objects.

Discarded mental health for low taxes for the wealthy.

Here now, inherit wounds from this broken nation

As someone explodes into a horrid fit and marks

You with afflictions you cannot afford to treat.

Go into debt for a right that has been

Stretched and warped to fit into a lobbyist agenda.

When is enough reached?

When will the number be too many?

You had me at 1.

But since 1999, 3000,000 children have been traumatized.

Since 1999, 376 incidents have occurred at schools.

Tell me people, what total must we reach

For you to say it is enough?

Yet you hold up extremes on each end

And yell in difference of each other,

Instead of seeking compromise

And uniting to protect the people

YOU were elected to serve.

Where is my justice? Where is my liberty?

What happiness can be pursued under

The pressure of knowing it may vanish

At any moment, in any place.

We have been failed as people.

Divided so that we may bicker,

And that may be an excuse for

Those in power who refuse to take action.

Mark my words, my vote will not stand

With those who do not put action behind words.

Enough is enough. And both parties have failed.