Violence Of The Youth

Have you ever found it

Easy to pretend

That the world is made of good

And evil can’t contend?

Yet the world is no Utopia

Sir Thomas face the facts

Never can my guard go down

My mind is screaming, “Don’t relax!”

Consider me a witness

To mark down in your books

I know the face of violence

I know just how he looks. It’s a teen getting by

From what he learns on the street

An absent mentor

Leaving morals incomplete.

It’s a fathers neglect

Under alcohol’s haze

It’s his buddies so loud

And rude in their ways.

It’s a mothers struggle

To stay happy and bright

To hold back her sobs

Until late in the night.

It’s a sister who walks

With her head down low

Masking insecurities

Pretending that she doesn’t know.

Her brother’s a gang member

Her father mugs

Her family’s a wreck

,And her mother does drugs.

She tries to hold them all together

But her hands can’t cover up the cracks

The society politely ignores

The decorum that she lacks.

It’s a country unwilling

To help those in need

To admit its own peril

To honor its creed.

By violence I am beaten up

By violence I’m defeated

Still someone has the gall

To ask how I’m affected.

My stomach done in by bulimia

My liver worn out by the bottle

My heart ruined by the chemicals

That set in full throttle.

My wrists were slashed from vein to vein

My nightmares set my demons loose

Tempting me with overdose

The pistol and the noose.

My body pierced by brutal knife

My friends by my own silence

My family was brought down by strife

My future by the violence.

My lungs werwe wasted with the smoke

My mind with crystak meth

My throat was wrung until I choked

This violence, my impending death.

More then a shadow in the closet

More then a noise beneath my bed

More then my cushioned life disturbed

By a bullet to the head.

I sought solace on the streets

And comfort in the booze

I was wandering and lost

From the substances I used.

Violence was my outlet

Violence was my friend

But when I wanted out

I couldn’t see and end.

Sticks and stones they broke my bones

And words they hurt me so

Brought me down way under ground

And wouldnt let me go.

I became a slave to violence

Serving in its darkest realms

I would have rather served my sentance

Being held in hell’s hot realms.

It was unheard of

To forgive

I chose to fight

Instead of live.

Did you not hear me cry

“How can you ignore

All that I hear

From behind my closed door?”

Screams and pleas

Brutal force

Scandalous lies

Threats of divorce.

I heard violence in their voices

Smelled violence on their breath

Fair was foul, foul was fair

As said in dear Macbeth.

As to what began

This horid, violent plague

No one is quite certain

And their answers are all vague.

An enigma, yes it is

The cause to teen duress

It’s a collaberation of the parenting,

Society, and stress.

But most of all it is the fear

That cuffs us to these violent ways

The fear that drives us to lash out

Making tragedies into cliches.

That stubborn little bow

Tied round our fingers tight

Reminds us that we’re never free

Of violence ’cause the fright.

As man we tend to panic

As people we are weak

Violence blackmails everyone

Until none of us can speak.

Yet somehow I survived

Every gruesome scene

Every second of despair

Now I’m the voice of every teen.

I have found my voice

So hear me loud and clear

I know the cause of violence

Because it is the son of fear.

The fear of waking up at night

And being all alone

The fear of needing help

But help won’t pick up the phone.

And I can’t bear to hear it ring

So I introduce it to the wall

But even that can’t stop the pain

Nor the tears that fall.

Excuses blend together

Like the faces on the evening news

The convicts, victims, and accused

Always interfuse.

When did a childs motive

Turn from wonder to deceit?

When did we set this sad song

Forever on repeat?

Though it pains me to see

The carnage on the street

I am just a minor

Should I admit defeat?

Too young to try?

Too young to matter?

Too old to cry?

Too old to shatter?

What difference can I make?

What impact can I be?

What powers do I have to move,

The apple further from the tree?

The jury seems in question

While I’m burning on this pyre

Do I need a lawyer

For my great trial by fire?

I feel so unprotected

I flinch before each blow

I am quickly wearing down

Violence is a mighty foe.

Yet I’m having an epiphany

That might make the tables turn

Each time that I shrink back in fear

It’s another coal to burn.

Why am I so afraid?

Why do I lapse in vigor?

No matter what force they put forth

I know my God is bigger.

With him fighting by my side

I know we cannot fail

Passion counters every fear

I’m sure we will prevail.

Call me a dreamer

Or call me a fool

I won’t be afraid and

I won’t be their fuel.

Nothing is impossible

There is a weapon for each war

Though you may win the battle

I’ll come back stronger then before.

Don’t expect me to concede

Don’t expect me to give in

Against this great Golliath

I know that I can win.

Never will I cease to fight

Persistence is my battle call

When it comes to good and evil

Malevolence will fall.

I won’t give into the silence

That violence provokes

I’ll laugh in it’s face

And call it a hoax.

A lackey to fear,

And a means to get even,

A coward, a crook,

A scoundrel and heathen.

I will rally up my troops

Call the soldiers out to arms

Teach them of the violence

To be weary of its “charms”.

They might laugh

Or they might follow

Peace is a mighty

Pill to swallow.

Should we still be fighting

Until Christ himself descends

I’ll consider my victory

The violent reign will end.

Do remember my dear comrades

Victory is impossible alone

Only the pure and blameless

Can be the first to throw a stone.

So now I have my battle plan

Draped in military splendor

Violence better be on the run

Ready to surrender.

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