Listing barbaric behaviors in class, for example ****
It should be said first. It’s thought first ****
But the list goes on and on: ****** slaughter, holocaust ****
No one raises their hands to say it, never once ****
“What’s missing?” Professor asks. The answer ****
on my mind, on everyone’s mind, but no one says it ****
Silence falls. He’s waiting. But still the word ****
is left unsaid. Unspoken but echoing louder than ever ****
Finally a girl raises her hand and says it ****
But her voice drops on the word ****
as if she can’t quite get it out ****
Why is it that we can discuss genocide, war, but never ****
it, the word no one’s willing to say, to admit ****
the crime, the word, that is too shameful to even speak ****
Ripped shirts, bruised cheeks, eyes squeezed shut
Hands, stop, fists, no, screaming, fighting, giving up--
****
Aug 31, 2016
Aug 31, 2016 at 12:21 PM UTC
Listing barbaric behaviors in class, for example ****
It should be said first. It’s thought first ****
But the list goes on and on: ****** slaughter, holocaust ****
No one raises their hands to say it, never once ****
“What’s missing?” Professor asks. The answer ****
on my mind, on everyone’s mind, but no one says it ****
Silence falls. He’s waiting. But still the word ****
is left unsaid. Unspoken but echoing louder than ever ****
Finally a girl raises her hand and says it ****
But her voice drops on the word ****
as if she can’t quite get it out ****
Why is it that we can discuss genocide, war, but never ****
it, the word no one’s willing to say, to admit ****
the crime, the word, that is too shameful to even speak ****
Ripped shirts, bruised cheeks, eyes squeezed shut
Hands, stop, fists, no, screaming, fighting, giving up--
****
“After telling the hard facts to anyone, from lover to friend,
I have changed in their eyes.”
-Alice Sebold
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