What then is the power of the word? 

Can it wash away anguish? 

Will it rid us of disease?

Call the sun to rise from the ocean? 

Can it save my brother, mother, sister, father, friend? 

Can it make us bulletproof? 

I need it to make us bulletproof

To make us a people without unsettled ghosts lurking in our midst 

I need it to save us

I need it

I need

I—