Children’s Ward

Poem by CGHS sophomore Vanessa L’Heureux

Children’s Ward
They hide us away behind locked doors,
Talk about the good and ignore the empty rooms
They cry for funding, but use it to buy doctors new cars,
And let the children keep dying,
I learned quickly not to ask what happens to my friends
Roommates come and go like the sun in the sky
Dialysis machines sing us to sleep
So many promised not to wake up
All the other girls want to be my friend,
Because I’m the only one who still has hair
Halloween means branding with a yellow band,
Telling the world we are too broken to have candy
Our bodies are kamikaze pilots,
Killing us slowly before we’ve had the chance to live
And for every one that goes down six floors home,
Nine more go six feet into the ground.

This poem was originally published in “Big Words Bigger Voices #2”, a literary journal containing poems written at the Art Interrupting Injustice conference on Tuesday, February 16, 2016 in Hamden, CT.