Safe Haven

Times were so much simpler then

the world so big and far away,

future bright and full of promise—

had our family, had our friends

no worries to get in the way.

But as we grew, our differences

rose more pronounced with each new day,

yet our core values still remained

beneath it all, the emphasis:

no matter what, we’d be okay.

Perhaps it is naïveté

to think that things could stay the same…

nestled safe in our cocoons

where outside world was kept at bay,

and innocents were not consumed.

But life, we learned, is not a game—

the moral values we once claimed

no longer deemed necessity;

coping skills, so long ingrained,

now lost inside complacency.

The darkness spreads now unconstrained,

our safety net has long been torn.

We can’t go back to where we were

but can’t continue in this vein

where daily shootings are the norm.

As NRA renews platform;

quotes amendments, seals their base,

how do we protect our children?

No safe haven from this maelstrom

so those “paid off” will not lose face.

Comes a time to stop discussing

before another school’s laid waste

words are nothing without change

until then there is no trusting.

Don’t forget now, we are watching

when vote comes you’ll be replaced.

© Ginny Brannan 2018

Another day, another school shooting. Thoughts and prayers, or voices and change. You decide. 

My love goes out to all the mothers, fathers, families and friends in Parkland who have had their hearts ripped out in this horrible massacre.