by Autumn White, Contributing Poet

Nowadays when we hear the word “pandemic” our minds think of a deadly body disease. 

Our minds don't think of the type that is silently staggering without decrease. 

The kind that strips over 1.2 million children from their homes and deprives them from life.

The pandemic that will never have a cure but with one call can save a life. 

The epidemic that raises an alarm but doesn’t sound a ring 

Since it is often done in secret until a person goes missing. 

A sickness that produces fear and abuse and many sorrows. 

Feeling worse than death itself — just bondage with never-ending tomorrows. 

If only we could dismantle the suffering imposed and find a remedy. 

Then there wouldn’t be so many lost memories. 

No more lost feelings, abandonment, and shame.

Where sex trafficking isn’t death’s understudy in pain.