Narrated by Beth Day
The only slingshot I have owned
is my voice in an empty room.
My God never gave me a stone
to throw to topple Goliath
or bronze bullets to shoot until
the snow blooms like crimson roses
while all I hear is the pounding of canons
where heartbeats used to be.
The only weapon He gave me: a soft
tongue and a sharp pen, so that
those men who only know rage
and violence may have half a chance
of taking me on.
I have never known a battlefield.
nor been commanded to shoot
my neighbor between the eyes
like a sick dog, or be forced
to rape women and children
just to make them afraid.
I never had to deliver a severed arm
cut like bark, then tell a mother,
“Here is your son.”
I know that many lives
have been given unto me,
but I will never understand
why we must beat the light out
of another’s eyes, while hiding
Behind gods
and wars we don’t understand.
You may never hear the shooting
snares of drums follow me into battle,
But everyone will know my battle cry.
BIO: Beth Day is an aspiring writer from Georgia. She graduated Girls Preparatory School with the class of 2018 and is now attending Reinhardt University. She has two younger sisters who share her interests and steal her clothes.