The Echo They Feared Poem by Vanessa Dizon Alvarez

They're not ashamed of what they've done,
Just scared the truth won't come undone.
No guilt within their hollow chest,
Just fear their lies won't let them rest.

They seek not grace, but sweet disguise,
To paint their wrongs with softer lies.
They say, "I didn't mean it so, "
Not to heal, but hush the woe.

They want your silence, not your peace,
A shallow pact, a false release.
No change, no weight, no honest plea—
Just chains disguised as sympathy.

They crave control of how you feel,
To twist the truth, to make it kneel.
But memory burns with sacred flame,
And will not bow to crafted shame.

So let them flinch, let shadows crawl—
Your voice remains, despite it all.
Their mask may fade, their tale may rot,
But you remember what they forgot.