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If I die in a mass shooting
Parade my corpse around the Capitol
And don’t you dare use any embalmer’s wax
Let them see the after, not the before of
What their inaction has done.


If I die in a mass shooting
Give my eyes to a Senator
That he may see the harm he caused
To everyone and everything
For want of a dollar.

If I die in a mass shooting
Give my ears to a Congressman
That he might forever hear the cries of mothers
Whose children died at the end of a gun barrel
Afraid, bloody, and screaming.

If I die in a mass shooting
Give my cold dead hands to the NRA
Rigor mortified, clutching a check
So they might actually listen for once.

If I die in a mass shooting
Give my heart to my fellow man
With apologies for not having done
Enough to stop all this.

If I die in a mass shooting
Burn me on a pyre outside the White House
So that the greasy smoke of cremation
Forever slickens its walls and windows,
So the soot that was someone lingers long.

If I die in a mass shooting
Spread my ashes on the steps of the Capitol
So that apathetic legislators, bloated with greed
Have to carry a bit of me with them to work every single day
Even if it is on the soles of their expensive shoes.

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