They claim to be warriors

for the ones who cannot stand

to fight and to speak for themselves.

They type furiously on keyboards,

tweeting and retweeting,

hashtagging their sympathy,

But their words fall short

on bleeding ears punctured by

Words.

Their mouths slam shut in fear

of retaliation.

Their once furious fingers quiver and stop

and they throw askance glances at

dark corners they swore to protect.

Words that became letters strung together

by pixilated courage.

They scribble last words on Facebook,

when they ignored the gun

pressed to the head of the girl

next to them in Spanish.

They heard the cold click of it loading

with every span of silence after words.

Saw the bullets that had been etched

into her arms and legs and stomach.

They looked away and put in their headphones,

opening Twitter as smoke choked the room;

The thick smell of hypocrisy seeping into the carpet.

Fingers quick to type support

as their eyes start to water with the smell

of missed opportunity.

Shrugging off the feeling of guilt

with cold words on a screen

and a hollow heartfelt top trend.

#STOPBULLYING