--- "Oh God, no!" ---

I fear that the audio clip of what went on in that school will haunt me forever ... and I wasn't even THERE. I wish I'd never heard it.

--- "Oh God, no!" ---

A shattering bolt out of the placid

nothingness of … just another day.

The reaper has come, to work, to school,

or to the mall. Wearing the blank face of an

angry co-worker, a deranged stranger, or

that quiet, brooding fellow student.

Over the din of fleeing feet, falling desks,

falling chairs, and the horrified screams of,

“Oh God, no!” from those who know they

are next to die, come the ear-splitting,

core-rattling blasts of instant death.

But it does not end when the shooting stops,

the bodies are cleared, or the blood is wiped up.

The dead and injured are only the first wave.

People die, but those terrible sounds never do.

Those sounds are demons who live forever

in the tortured minds and souls of survivors.

And then, there is the echo of tragedy.

Parents, children, brothers, sisters, friends,

waking up day after day, sometimes with

a smile, but only for that first moment, only

until the echo of tragedy hits them again,

morning after morning after morning.

Someone they love is dead and it's still

real, and it will be real forever.

Reviews

[Emily B]

Listening is the hardest part. There are so many phone calls stored in my brain. Scared folks. Sad ones. Their only lifeline at the moment was the voice on the other end of the phone. Listening is hard.

[Creepy Swine Guy]

This sounds like a poem ... "The voice on the other end of the line"

[Einstein Noodle]

i feel the sunken soul of your poem ..well done ..what can one say ...this is one that denies critique .. the words pour out and you wrote ... the closing so filled with empathy and where the focus needs to remain in this horrible aftermath ... on the families :(
E.

[Creepy Swine Guy]

I'm to the point where it's one of my first thoughts every day ... "Please, not today. Not today."

[Einstein Noodle]

yes...i join in your prayer whole heartedly my friend ... it seems no easy answer ... mental illness, soft targets and too many examples to think of ...perhaps our knees to fall on in prayer is the best place to start, continue and finish :( hope you will be hanging around the cafe a bit more Swine Guy! missed ya!
E.

[Quill]

I, um, uh, wow "...speechless"