I will defend my city,
the lights on the lake, the beads in the trees,
the shoes on the power lines
I will defend
I will defend the crumbling tombstones,
the rusted gates, the swaying oaks,
the blood in the street,
I will defend
I will defend the cobblestone streets,
the plastic cups of Bourbon, the broken signs,
the waterlines,
I will defend
I will defend the cracks of the Causeway,
the brown, brown river, the oil-slick birds
the magnolia breeze,
I will defend
Megann, age 16