So much is left
to “thoughts and prayers.”
It's become meaningless
like no one really cares.

Empty words
won’t stem the tide
of mass shootings
or suicides.

What we need
are better laws
and bolder leaders
to take up the cause.
 
Gun reform.
The time has come.
No one lives free 
while in fear of guns. 

While the lobby that holds
the purse strings of change 
keeps choking out progress 
and leaving blood stains.
 
But the blood on their hands 
hasn’t troubled them yet. 
So we’re left with these feelings
of despair and regret. 

We’re left feeling hopeless 
and helpless inside. 
So we send “thoughts and prayers”
each time someone else dies.