Pulse

Every life taken
An entire universe
Obliterated
I cannot read names
I cannot see faces
Because to do so
Would be to fall
Into the black hole left
In their fresh absence

There is no sense
No logic
In the deaths of people
By men
Holding machines
Firing ballistic projectiles
Because of their own fear

They hold moments of silence
When all of their moments are silent
Silently accepting the money
Silently writing the bills
Silently contributing to
Thousands of bodies
Placed in cold storage
Year
over
year
To protect the rights
Of men
To hold machines
To fire ballistic projectiles
But they will raise their voices
To protect toilets
From the waste of people
Assigned an arbitrary idea at birth
To protect marriage
From adults who dare to love each other
They will raise hue and cry
Because of their own fear