Orly Kvitka
What whispers into the quiet of the night is not to be taken lightly.
What hisses into the quiet is not to be seen as a hoax.
The cacophony of unknown cries echoes, but does it ever meet your ears?
It is a crisis you see as unbecoming of its severe title.
It is a call for justice and strength
You might have the resources, but will it cause you strain?
Will your thoughts ever fall upon the retching of pain or the bellowing of the fallen?
Will your actions ever speak louder than a whimper?
Will your concern become a heroic deed, a path of betterment?
Or will you falter in your plans,
Say it, but not scream it?
Speak your course aloud, but not mean it,
Mean it, but not do it?
Or will what whispers into the night, be unheard.
Orly is a freshman at the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts, where she majors in Literary Arts. She is 15 and loves to write poetry.
Approaching this piece, I had many doubts about the route I wanted to go with its message. When given the opportunity to write about Environmental Justice, I realized that this topic often makes me feel powerless as a teenager, and after asking my friends, I realized that they had the same opinion. I wanted to write a poem that invokes the reader to act on making a change, rather than just feeling hopeless and unsure how they could help. My piece Whispers explores the desperation for change and wish to do something extraordinary to bring that change.
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