Voice - Virginia Francisco

[Larry Robinson]

Voice

I´m the voice of the next baby girl
forced to walk on burning embers
to exorcise a devil.
I´m the voice of the next elderly woman
battered by her cruel son
and left to die at the hospital.
I´m the voice of the next victim of hit-and-run
by a drunk teenager whose parents
did not know how to stop him.
I´m the voice of the next strangled girl
found all tied up
in a black plastic bag by the railway line.
I´m the voice of the next man
blast away by bombshells on his way back home
to his wife and newborn son.
I´m the voice of the next
wild teenager shot down
by a rival drug lord in the suburbs.
I´m the voice of the next pregnant woman
drowned in an overcrowded raft
wearing a fake useless life-jacket.
I´m the voice of the next child
who died of thirst and hunger
while still clinging on to his little toy.
I´m the voice of the next victim of covid
who died all curled up on a corridor floor
waiting for a bed and a life.
I´m their voice.
And I´m here to beg you:
Do something now!
 
	- Virginia Francisco