A Voice for the Voiceless

Voiceless

I’m very small
I have no voice
I long to live
I have no choice

They say my life
Is worth less
Than my mom’s
Happiness

What they don’t seem
To understand
Is even though
I was not planned

I’ll bring her joy
And love galore
A smile, a laugh
She can’t ignore

Life’s too hard
Is what they say
If she keeps me
A price she’ll pay

They dismiss
The loss she’ll feel
When I’m gone
A pain that’s real

Instead of help
They offer death
Of her dear heart
And my first breath

She feels alone
She has no choice
She longs to love
She has no voice

Recently I’ve come across a number of calls for submissions for poetry journals. I see them all the time on Facebook and Instagram, but in the last two weeks quite a few have been special calls for poems addressing life after the demise of Roe vs. Wade. It is clear from the language of these calls that what I might pen on this topic would not be welcome. My perspective is not angry enough about rights being taken away.

Perhaps, in the wake of almost 50 years of abortion being considered a constitutional right, now we will begin to care about the voiceless women who feel they have no other choice. Perhaps we will begin to try to solve the problems that give rise to women believing ending the life of the child in their womb is the only option they have. Perhaps we will give voice to the voiceless children who long to live and give their mothers love and joy.