All my peeps shine
In every make and color
Our rainbow family
Making love in every flavor
Dancing and romancing
Like there\'s no tomorrow
Smiles all around us
Without a trace of sorrow
Moving to the vibe
Happy in the heat
Getting jiggy with it
Hitting it with that beat
Everyone felt the pulse
All across the room
When the ultimate anger
Announced our doom
Death came dressed
Armed to the teeth
AR-15 locked and loaded
Trigger squeezed and unleashed
Spraying brass jackets
Inside the celebration
Letting loose his hate
With our elimination
Blood was everywhere
It wasn\'t supposed to be
The gunman cut us down
Indiscriminately
Prejudice and repression
All those years of bother
Ignited by a kiss
And resentment for a father
Forty-nine dead
Fifty-three among the rubble
“Til SWAT put an end
To the killer for our trouble
Early morning next day
The shooting was over
As the media vultures
Came in to rate our slaughter
And the puffed up egos
Inflated words and chests
Spoke condolences
For those laid to rest
Candlelight vigils
Sadly won\'t change laws
NRA and politicians
Deny guns are the cause
An eerie kind of hush
Continues an ugly trend
Laughter has gone silent
Many lives are at an end
What say us all then
For mass shootings and the like?
Has reason and conscience
Been told to take a hike?
Laws that put assault guns
Above lives is truly false
Forbid the deadly weapons
Before we lose our pulse.
Copyright © 2016 Charles Edward York
* No part of this poem may be used or reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any way or form or by any means electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise without the written permission of the author.*