It Doesn't Matter

When you say
     That your vote
          doesn't matter --
You're right!

It doesn't matter to the homeless man who will die tonight in the New York City streets, nameless and unloved, with a long dying look at a statue that once promised hope
     For the tired,
          For the poor,
               For the huddled masses

It doesn't matter to the transgendered teen who sits alone at home with 8 inches of cold sharpened steel pressed against her wrist because she can no longer live in her own skin and has been betrayed
     By her family,
          By her teachers,
               By her church,
                    And by her community

It doesn't matter for the pregnant teen who carries in her womb the offspring of an unfathomably, unimaginably evil act and must now run the gauntlet
     Of jeers,
          Of stares,
               Of violent thoughts
                    From those who claim to march
                         Under the banner
Of a God of love

It doesn't matter for the factory worker who will return home to see his worldly belongings on the front lawn accompanied by the self righteous sneer of the banker who foreclosed and the firm but silent acquiescence of the sheriff,
     Who should
          Be arresting
               The banker

It doesn't matter for the prisoner who will never see his child because he gave in to his youthful exuberance to smoke a plant.

No, it does not matter for them

     BECAUSE CHANGE
        
          WILL COME TOO LATE
             
               FOR THEM ! ! !

It matters for those
     Who should not inherit
          The legacy
               That we have made
Their birthright