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20 caskets, small and shaped like angels, sublime<\/p>\n20 caskets, small and shaped like angels, sublime<\/p>\n
Souls taken so early, you were still much less worldly THAN you were divine<\/p>\n
And with you, royal innocence crowned,<\/p>\n
Are buried all of our excuses, six feet beneath the ground<\/p>\n
Entombed are our alibies that we were too busy and that we couldn\u2019t make a change<\/p>\n
That we had bigger problems, and that you\u2019re killer was just deranged<\/p>\n
We excuse ourselves into thinking we had no part<\/p>\n
And we forgive ourselves without asking for forgiveness from our hearts<\/p>\n
We stand back and try to wash the red off our palms<\/p>\n
We hold prayer vigils, and sing guilt-ridden tribute songs<\/p>\n
We unite but for a moment, in collective mourning and grief<\/p>\n
And then we sleep off our contrition, the morning comes as a relief<\/p>\n
We then pretend this never happened and try to forget<\/p>\n
That Newtown is just a symptom and the disease still festers yet<\/p>\n
So before I close my eyes and turn my back on you like the rest of them<\/p>\n
I have composed a written apology before slipping into the bliss of being purposefully blind,<\/p>\n
To every single child in this world that has been left to suffer, on behalf of all humankind:<\/p>\n
I am sorry.<\/p>\n
That this life has been too much for us with all of its stresses and demands<\/p>\n
That we have held on to our own desires instead of holding on to your little hands<\/p>\n
I am sorry that you will never live out your dreams or get to graduation<\/p>\n
That bombs and guns were your teachers and injustice was your education<\/p>\n
I am sorry that we couldn\u2019t yet figure out this whole thing about living in peace,<\/p>\n
Because we have found it is it is hard to love and hate comes too easy<\/p>\n
I am sorry that when I saw so much oppression, I chose to sit by quietly<\/p>\n
When I may have had a chance to speak up, I watched and cried silently<\/p>\n
I am sorry that I didn\u2019t do my part although I knew I should<\/p>\n
And that bullets reached your heart much faster than I ever could<\/p>\n
I am sorry I was not able to give you enough role models to admire<\/p>\n
I am sorry on behalf of this generation for absolving ourselves by blaming the one prior<\/p>\n
I am sorry for obsessing about the present and living in the past<\/p>\n
Instead of thinking about the future, always putting you last<\/p>\n
I am sorry for all of the unsung lullabies and bedtime stories that will go unread<\/p>\n
For the never-to-be laughs and the \u2018I love you\u2019s\u2019 that will go unsaid<\/p>\n
I am sorry that the part of mankind you witnessed was the worst<\/p>\n
Like all of the Adam Lanza\u2019s in the world, who we probably failed first<\/p>\n
I Am So Sorry<\/p>\n
And when you reach heavens gates, all of you together<\/p>\n
And Abraham, with open arms guides you into paradise to play forever<\/p>\n
Explain to him that you were never meant to be a sacrifice, and that you unjustly died<\/p>\n
And that the only ones left to grieve for are those who still consider themselves alive<\/p>\n
Because, though the angel of death came and collected your souls early, in reality<\/p>\n
You remain alive with God and what really died was our humanity.<\/p>\n
Ahmad Yousaf<\/p>\n
Ahmad is a second year medical resident in internal medicine and pediatrics.\u00a0 He lives in Little Ferry, NJ with his wife Angie, and has been performing spoken word poetry for 7 years now.<\/em><\/p>\n \n<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 20 caskets, small and shaped like angels, sublime Souls taken so early, you were still much less worldly THAN you were divine And with you, royal innocence crowned, Are buried all of our excuses, six feet beneath the ground Entombed are our alibies that we were too busy and that we couldn\u2019t make a change […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1573,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,20],"tags":[198,611,863,1107,1118],"class_list":["post-5225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-motherhood","category-poems","tag-children","tag-innocent","tag-newtown","tag-sandy-hook","tag-school-shooting"],"yoast_head":"\n