Grim Day Dawning

Bewildered stares and the eyes of the stunned

Revealed in the light of the slow-rising sun

Music and clothing clutter the grass

Soft tender weeping and pieces of glass

A girl with her hands clasped over her lips

Everyone slowly coming to grips

They grab and hold fast to the nearest pair of arms

In the bleak desolation of pastures and farms

There's a boy in a daze clutching a bear

And the stench of manure in the air

Someone lays the instruments gently in a pile

And tries to offer comfort with a weary smile

 

One mother is shattered and devastated

Regretful of ever having hesitated

In granting her young daughter's desires

She's awakened to see that life expired

Crushed beneath the weight of the bus

Why had she made the slightest fuss

Over the pants with the monkey embroidered in

She longs for her daughter's endearing grin

That life and three others were instantly gone

They lie as if sleeping in the grim misty dawn

She wanted to share in her daughter's joy

Now those hopes and dreams are destroyed

 

This grim day is slowly warming

Followed by funerals and tears of mourning

Parents bury their children right before their eyes

They tenderly remember and warmly eulogize

Their years so cruelly few with unfulfilled desiring

Yet what they had was good and inspiring

See their friends and family overcome with grief

And embrace the nearest stranger for some relief

When will the gloom lift and sorrow cease

And are those children with God in peace

Can the tears of their grieving mothers be stemmed

And will we live lives worthy of them

 

 

 

Author's Notes/Comments: 

Four middle school students from Newton, Massachusetts were killed in a horrific crash in New Brunswick, Canada in the early morning on Friday April 27, 2011. I didn't know any of them and had no relation at all to any of them. But reading details in the news media over the ensuing days I composed a poem about them.

Affirmation's picture

You seem to put thought into

You seem to put thought into the wording of each line. Very well done.

PeterChristopherRaymond's picture

Thank you very much!! :]    

Thank you very much!! :]

 

 

nightlight1220's picture

This is very touching. Thank

This is very touching. Thank you for writing it. Life is so precious.


...and he asked her, "do you write poetry? Because I feel as if I am the ink that flows from your quill."

"No", she replied, "but I have experienced it. "

 

PeterChristopherRaymond's picture

Thank you so much. I folowed

Thank you so much. I folowed that story in the news for days and days. It was just so sad knowing their lives were done and with so much promise unfulfilled and so many wonderful life experiences never to be had.