not once have i been told

thank you for service great student of mine who has risked your mental state, your sleep, insomnia, depression, anxiety, taking over you like a tidal wave of loneliness in the middle of the night

not once have i been told

thank you for your service, great child of mine who has cried herself to sleep over homework we force upon you, and emotional abuse we use against you

not once have been told

thank you for service

because i am not a warrior

or so they say

because i am not a warrior who risks her life

because i am not a warrior who risks her life

or so they say

i am a warrior who sleeps at night

just because im not on physical battlefield doesn't mean i do not have graves growing in my mind

just because im not out there with a gun and 30 pounds of equipment doesnt mean im not carrying an ammunition of words you taught me not to use

children should be seen not heard

you said to me passing ammunition to a cartridge

loading that cartridge in my head

you gave me the ammunition made of extensive vocabularies and surreptitious events

i was already a gun

you taught the wrong words to me

children should be seen and heard

you gave me the ammunition

i was already a gun

did you expect me not to fire