hush.
don't speak.
don't let them hear,
hear the silence as a father goes to work cutting jewels,
and never comes back.
don't let them hear the sobs of his wife,
the wails of his daughters.
hush.
don't speak.
don't let them hear,
hear the pleads for food from starving girls,
the mother who cannot give them what they so desperately need.
don't let them hear the screams of despair,
as the first daughter's eyes turn glassy and cold.
hush.
don't speak.
don't let them hear,
hear the slaps and punches and her blood hitting the floor,
the empty promises that he's sorry.
don't let them hear as she tells her girls she hates him too,
but he has money.
hush.
don't speak.
don't let them hear,
hear the thuds of knives as they hit the targets,
her trainers high praise.
(but that was two's talent, knives, and she couldn't show her up.)
the way she is becoming a machine.
hush.
don't speak.
don't let them hear,
hear the mindless gossip from her peers that she hates,
but she's blonde and pretty and from one, so she must be stupid too.
don't let them hear the intelligent words she could speak,
if only she was allowed.
hush.
don't speak.
don't let them hear,
hear how she locks herself in her room and lets sobs rack her body,
after her trainer told her,
"it's your year."
and, like usual, she did not get a say.
hush.
don't speak.
don't let them hear,
hear how the brute from two looks her up and down,
licks his lips with bad bad eyes.
don't let them hear how she throws up,
sick at the very thought.
hush.
don't speak.
don't let them hear,
hear how her prep team call her stunning,
and continue to erase every thing that made her her,
strip her of her identity and give her a new one-
the girl who wears nothing but lust and glitter.
hush.
don't speak.
don't let them hear,
hear how she giggles and flirts,
in front of cameras and men secretly wishing she would win,
so they could see her cream skin up close,
and not feel bad.
hush.
don't speak,
don't let them hear,
as she ends one life, two lives, three.
she should do it in a heartbeat,
but they don't hear how she weeps for the fallen,
who fell to her.
hush.
don't speak.
don't let them hear,
hear how she lies swollen and dying, and whispers-
i will not be silenced.
