Moment of Silence
\nBy
\nJennifer Angelina Petro<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Grateful as I am for the moment <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nOf silence, for the pausing
\nTo stand together, breathe
\nTogether, do nothing with our phones together,
\nRemember people
\nWe did not know together,
\nLet us rise up together
\nAnd share a moment
\nOf weeping, a moment
\nOf rage, a moment of falling
\nInto each other’s arms,
\nA moment of shouting,
\nA moment of wailing and tearing
\nOur shirts, a moment
\nOf witnessing each other\u2019s pain
\nTogether, a moment of-
\nWe-must-stop-this-from-ever-
\nHappening-again-together,
\nA moment of complicity,
\nA moment of shame as a nation,
\nA moment of guilt at doing nothing except
\nStay silent, a moment of knowing
\nWe must change, put an end
\nTo any hatred within ourselves alone
\nIn our moment of silence, alone
\nIn our moment of grieving, alone,
\nIn our moment of righteous indignation–
\nWe must change–together alone, for one
\nEverlasting moment, for one eternity
\nOf silence, for one generation of silence,
\nLifetime of silence, gone forever silence.
\nLet us be silent no more.
\nLet our voices be heard, our tears
\nBe seen, our changed minds
\nBe demonstrated by actions changed
\nAnd full of common sense, any
\nSense, any enlightened, civilized
\nSemblance of sense, let us be silent
\nNo more, let us be still no more,
\nLet us be revolutionary together alone now—
\nFor the moment has passed, is
\nPassing—the moment is
\nNo more.<\/span><\/p>\n