Friday, October 11, 2013

United She Stands

Until more recently than
this regular-
attempting-to-be-a-decent
-poet
-person
-and-citizen
(and already-exemplary-speller)
is happy to admit

she thought the Nobel
in Nobel Prize
was an alternate spelling
of Noble.
(Sorry.)

Malala Yousafzai
the girl who survived
the bullets of misguided men

did not win a prize
for her nobilty.

Yet she remains an inspiration
surely she is

but the world needs
not only the one
who stands in front
vulnerable

but the many
who will walk behind
in her defense.

This poem © 2013 Emily Cooper.