Pretending to be blind
“Once you see it, you can't unsee it. And once you've seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing, becomes as political an act as speaking out. There’s no innocence...you’re accountable.” - Arundhati Roy
Hidden Voices is my love letter to the best of us—the children. It is born from the grief and frustration, as we witness the voices of children & women silenced and their lives threatened daily. This is for them — a place to hear their voices and tell their stories. Thank you for reading and honoring the lives of children as you do so.
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Sunken eyes
that stare
yet see nothing
perched above
smiles that lie
to bellies unfilled
merciless contractions
of hunger
shaking small bodies
the only movement
that reminds them
to breathe
Silently praying
for death
to bring them
closer again to
those that
remembered who
what they were
before time
stood still
waiting for
them to die
Dreaming of
black nights with stars
how they were silent once
empty of bullets
chasing bodies
rainstorms of bombs
avalanches of dust and steel
breaking limbs
suffocating lungs
smashing heads
piercing hearts
erasing hope
And one day
when the little girl cannot play
and the little boy can no longer move
when babies are too weak to suckle
mothers sing
to create sleep
too brief
to hide grief
within melodies
of words in
Arabic
Dinka
Lingala
Creole
that have withstood generations
of pain
Screams grow louder
Wails more frequent
Our silence becomes stronger
Our hearts grow colder
And we look away
Believing they cannot see
Minds that have
rejected humanity
and become something
more treacherous than evil
indifferent
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