We silenced those born to save us.


Medicated them.


Diagnosed their tenderness
as disorders


labelled their empathy a flaw


their softness a symptom.

We locked their spirits in cages
and stamped the bars

with names like 
education and Resilience.

We told them that quiet compliance 
was the goal of growing up.

We confused obedience for peace.


Mistook numbness for maturity.


And when they broke under the weight
 we didn’t ask why.

We praised the ones
who felt nothing at all.

We threw them into a world on fire

And turned off the water

And still they kept trying.

The soft ones.
The feelers.


The children with galaxies in their chests
 and storm warnings in their eyes.

They were never broken.


They were barometers.


Blueprints.


Beacons.

We mistook their tremble for weaknesss.

It was a radar.


We called their tears fragility


It was prophecy.

They weren’t here to be quiet


They were here to be sirens

To measure the quake of the ground

Before it rumbled.

We should have listened.


But instead

We pinned their hearts outside their cages.


Made them bite their tongues

Then labelled their silence

Success