For Them

For Them by S.T.I.L.

I hate that I have to do this.

I wish I could leave you alone

Let your mind remain in the light,

Free of somber truth.

I don't want to invade your world

Bust your bubbles,

And shatter your sense of reality.

I feel horrible imparting this necessary education

I feel awful to bring to you

Danger, wrought with

Gut-wrenching facts

Survivor's stories

True tales of …

Of ….

Man, I've been searching for the right word

But it eludes me

I mean, there shouldn't even exist an occasion

For a poet to use words

As brushes

On the canvas of your mind,

Painting painful, pitiful

Precise pictures

Of traffickers abusing their fellow humans

Using them as a means

To their selfish ends.

I hesitate to tell you

Of the 10-year-old boy

Working in a mine

20 hours, no breaks

Moving rocks and dirt

Stomach empty

Lungs filled with toxic fumes

His hands more calloused,

Than a seasoned blacksmith

He falls asleep, utterly drained

Hands aching,

His mind occupied by one question,

“God, what does freedom feel like?”

I don't want to tell you, but I have to, for him.

And the prostitute, on the corner,

Who most believe is there by choice?

Her once-sweet, kind

Considerate boyfriend

Once lavished her with

All she desired.

With two simple words, “Break yourself”

He became her abusive pimp

She's simply a tool

A scalpel in the hands

Of a self-absorbed, wanna-be-man

Carving out success for himself

At the expense of

Her mind, body, and spirit

I don't want to share her story

With you,

But I must, … for her.

I am grieved

To share the details

Of an eight-year-old girl

Sexually abused,

Covered in the semen of no less than

FIFTEEN GROWN MEN!

I don't want to tell you, but I must be willing to,

For her

For them.

I invite you

To stare deeply into

The gloomiest realness:

The deep degradation of mankind.

I pray your intestinal fortitude holds

I pray your mind remains bold

As victim and trafficker alike

Share unique

Heart-wrenching, gut-turning

Real-life perspectives

Beware, there will be no

Holding back

Sad as they may be

We shall share only the facts.

FOR THEM

I pray your heart strings

Are so well-strummed that

You cannot resist the call

To enlist in this war!