You were just a child

No.

It doesn't change anything.

Not your smile,

Your acts of grace

Which came from a place

Wishing you would be remembered

For your kindness;

None of it will matter

When people have already

Made up their minds,

Choose to pick another fight

Where you have no one to embrace.

You'll be named

A—word I'll not repeat;

You don't need your future to be history

As you, my younger self, cannot erase

What is to come.

Even if this poem could be a warning

Of what you too will outlast.

You were strong in the past.

And you are now.

I am proud of you.

You were just a child.

I am proud of you.

You are just a child.