Our new youth, we lost our voices.
Our humanity made us look like we have no choices.
We need to seek forgiveness from our elders.
Forgive us, our elders, for ripping apart our lives.
My mouth contradicts the courage
to speak up through poetry.
Forgive us
for body-shaming our peers
and killing them with offensive words.
For raping our mothers who gave birth to us
and protected us from danger.
For killing ourselves with drugs
that ripped us from education
and abandoned us on dangerous streets.
Peer pressure knocking from door to door
leaving empty homes.
Oh! Are the birds mocking us
with unpleasant actions we brought upon ourselves?
Are the birds laughing at our miseries and clumsiness?
Teenage pregnancy became a source
of achievement in our society.
Teenagers are now becoming parents so quickly,
we ask ourselves if we’re allowed to call them youth again.
Oh! Are the birds laughing at our clumsiness
for bearing teenage pregnancy?
Rape is covering us with shame
we brought upon ourselves.
Oh what happened to the youth?
Gender-based violence is swallowing us
one by one and nothing will be left.
The graveyard will be the only proof
that we were here but didn’t arrive at our destinations.
Suicide will be feeding itself with our deaths,
nothing will remain but a fleeting thought.
By the time we realize our mistakes,
gone will be those ages.
The saddest thing is that we thought
we were enjoying life not realizing
we were living a nightmare.
We need to seek for forgiveness.