No More
Mighty Monday vol. 6 wonders where all the children went. Content warning: gun violence.
Article voiceover
Read at Ashley Dominguez’s candlelight vigil. Dedicated to all the families who have loved and lost to gun violence.
If the pen be “mightier than the sword,”
Then let it stun the guns too.
Let these words ricochet off walls
More than the bullets do:
No more, no more, no more.
Let words echo most loudly
in empty-chamber hearts,
The ones that bluster and blast most,
When the bill said,
“This is the price we pay for freedom,”
Did you mean for children to be the host?
This is for the empty chamber-hearts,
The ones who take aim at the most vulnerable
In a majority “House” meant to be a home.
There are no more crumbs left at your table for us,
And you offer just stray bullets.
No more, no more, no more.
What is even heard?
There are no more safe words,
For there are no words left to scream
for waiting mothers here,
Who’s name “Mamá” was taken too soon,
Who cannot call church a sanctuary,
Not when she prayed for reunion
And left planning a funeral.
No safe haven of heaven,
Just an echo in an empty room:
“No more, no more, no more.”
We want them safe and sound,
Not the hushed click-sound of safeties unlocked,
Unlock not the bodies of these guns,
But this body of government.
The people are springing with tension, so
Trigger your tragedy into ammunition,
For you can always take back words -
it's a political art.
But no bullet can make way,
Propulse in reverse --
back out of a heart.
We are primed to spark, to ignite, to shout
Louder than the bullets can:
“No more, no more, no more.”
