poetry

they torture the righteous
and after they die
turn them into heroes
dead heroes
instead of honoring
the ones who are still here
they torture them too
hoping they'll die
so they can become
a new dead hero

and who gets to decide?
those who were too afraid
to make the torture stop
when they had the chance
those who remained silent
to the point they forgot
they even have a voice at all

and what are they deciding?
to let the abuse continue
to let fear rule the world
to sell their soul
for what might be
what they think they want now
and let somebody else decide
what the future will be

the future is not ours
it belongs to the children
let them decide