Boys and girls torn from life way too soon.

Parents whose hearts ache with despair and grief –

Brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmothers and grandfathers

unable to express the depth of their pain and sorrow-

the utter darkness that blankets their world.

Parents experience never-ending dreams of

their children alive and well as their minds grapple

with this horrendous new reality –

life without their precious children.

Waiting, waiting, waiting for the day when a thin ray of

hope dares to shine through their veil of darkness.

Nothing, nothing, nothing, prepared them for this.

Their world is irreversibly changed.

My heart aches, and my tears fall unchecked

for each and every one of them. Across the miles

my thoughts and prayers reach to sustain them.

I, too – parent, teacher, child, and fellow citizen.

(Written in the aftermath of the tragic elementary school shooting.)

~December 2012