I bear witness to
the murder of our youth,
acts born of hatred
which in turn
are born of fear.
The deaths of children afraid
to accept who they are
because elements within our culture
tell them they are “less than” and “evil”,
words taking their hearts
as surely as their own hands
take their lives.
Who can live without a heart?
It may get better
but THEY will never GET better
because they are gone
and they were never in need
of being more than they were.
Love is more than sex,
it is more than gender,
it is more than religious control
can control and more than policy
and politicians can dictate.
The dictators say
their words of hatred
and spew forth the bullets
from open mouths that strike
at the core of our gay youth
and we must witness
so that we can stop the hatred
and the fear from taking another life,
a life deserving of a heart,
deserving of acceptance
because the youth IS our youth
and is our future.
Their only crime was to love,
and who has not been found guilty of that?