"Bystander"
Emma
Holy Infant School
St. Louis County, MO
"Bystander" by Emma Holy Infant School St. Louis County, MO This video was taken at the 2014 7GP 7th Grade Poetry Contest Winner Event in St. Louis, MO on April 16th, 2014. Read the poems of every 2014 winner at www.7gp.org. The 7th Grade Poetry Foundation (7GP) is transforming young lives and their classrooms through writing.
I gaze at them
at the city being bombarded
at the buildings crashing down.
Amazement runs through me—
what a couple of words can do
to hurt someone,
to kill someone.
The murderer
and the others laugh
while the victim sits there
with such a pale
blank face,
so blank
it looks like a white piece of paper.
I gaze at them
while the bullies
kill their victim.
I gaze at them
knowing that I’m
a bystander...
but I’m no longer innocent.