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Grieving with Orlando
A weary calm settles this week on Orlando
As loved ones filled with sadness do their best
To grapple with their state of numb perplexion
As shooting victims are being laid to rest.
Funeral parlors schedule visitations
Of those whose lives so abruptly ended.
Families and friends unite in grief,
Their lives temporarily suspended.
A church bell tolls forty-nine times
As mourners fill the city with candlelight.
Some of the injured who manage to be present
Are scarred by memories of the dreadful night.
A makeshift memorial of cards, flowers, wreaths,
And flags honors those who lost their lives.
Despite the pain and anguish of the mourners,
A clear, powerful sense of love survives.
Some services will be held in tandem
For loving couples who together died.
Other services will be held in private
By grieving families who are horrified
That members of the Westboro Baptist Church--
That vicious, fiendish, ruthless congregation
Of heartless hatemongers--might appear
To inflict cruel pain and degradation.
Sometimes hiding behind the mask of religion
Hatred manifests itself until
Believers are moved to action, mistakenly
Thinking that they're carrying out God's will.
As we mourn, we pause to contemplate
The President's words so kind and aptly spoken
When he met with the victims' grieving families
And told them that our hearts, too, are broken.
Totally beyond our understanding
Is the depth of other people's sorrow.
May the love that they receive today
Help to mitigate their pain tomorrow.
(6-18-16)
As loved ones filled with sadness do their best
To grapple with their state of numb perplexion
As shooting victims are being laid to rest.
Funeral parlors schedule visitations
Of those whose lives so abruptly ended.
Families and friends unite in grief,
Their lives temporarily suspended.
A church bell tolls forty-nine times
As mourners fill the city with candlelight.
Some of the injured who manage to be present
Are scarred by memories of the dreadful night.
A makeshift memorial of cards, flowers, wreaths,
And flags honors those who lost their lives.
Despite the pain and anguish of the mourners,
A clear, powerful sense of love survives.
Some services will be held in tandem
For loving couples who together died.
Other services will be held in private
By grieving families who are horrified
That members of the Westboro Baptist Church--
That vicious, fiendish, ruthless congregation
Of heartless hatemongers--might appear
To inflict cruel pain and degradation.
Sometimes hiding behind the mask of religion
Hatred manifests itself until
Believers are moved to action, mistakenly
Thinking that they're carrying out God's will.
As we mourn, we pause to contemplate
The President's words so kind and aptly spoken
When he met with the victims' grieving families
And told them that our hearts, too, are broken.
Totally beyond our understanding
Is the depth of other people's sorrow.
May the love that they receive today
Help to mitigate their pain tomorrow.
(6-18-16)
