Innocence Lost Poem by Jim Yerman

We adults tend to lose ours innocence as the years unfold…
which is why the innocence of our children is a beauty we behold.

Children sing before they realize there even is a song.
They dance whenever any kind of music comes along.

They draw upon a canvas before they realize it's a wall.
They climb as high as they can climb before they understand the fall.

When we see innocence in our children…we are happy to detect it
and we realize it's up to us to nurture and protect it.

But a question now arises which leads to a scary thought…
What happens to this innocence when our children have been shot?

Let's stop a moment to remember…to take a closer look
How we did nothing back in 2012 after Sandy Hook.

Oh, we prayed, we mourned, we wept…and we said we're sorry too
as we told the grieving parents…there's nothing we can do.

And every day since then our country has paid a tremendous cost
as more children have been murdered…and more innocence has been lost.

Never again will they sing, or dance, or draw upon a wall
Never again will they marvel at the Heavens, or climb up high, or fall.

In 2012 we stopped protecting our children…our daughters and our sons
our love for them now less important than our obsession with a gun.

As the two sides fight with one another to do what is required
All the children of our country are caught in their crossfire.

A child will play with a ray of light before he realizes there's a sun
A child will attempt to pull a trigger...before he realizes it's a gun.

But we know what harm a gun can do…and if we want our children to survive
we must do all that's in our power to ensure they stay alive…

If we continue to allow their innocence to be taken…
in this most heinous kind of theft…
There will come a time,
if we haven't reached it already
when we have no innocence left.