A Painful Remembrance

On Valentine’s Day three years ago

A high school shooting shook the nation.

Seventeen lives were taken in Parkland,

Florida, an indication

 

That something is wrong--terribly wrong--

In what has been called "the land of the free,"

Where easy access to weapons of war

Led to this brutal killing spree.

 

Each year after the deadly occurrence,

People meet to remember and pray,

While those directly affected by

The shooting suffer day after day.

 

Parents, siblings, relatives, and friends--

Before that nightmare--never expected

For loved ones to have to experience

The horror to which they'd been subjected.

 

And yet there are some people who call

The shootings in Parkland a "false flag."

Tell that to parents of kid after kid

Who left the school in a body bag!

 

That too many lives are lost in deadly

Shootings here is a bone-chilling fact.

We MUST do more than merely remember

The lives that were lost. We must act!

 

-by Bob B (2-17-21)

Reviews

[John the Baptist]

When you say "act," what do you mean?

[barleygirl]

Always love your hardcore way of addressing the pertinent issues that most people are skimming right by. Speaking of which, we're almost at half-million covid deaths in the USA . . . any day now. Thinking of the uncountable mass-shooting tragedies in this country in the past 20 years, Parkland stands out for me becuz of how hard those kids tried to be a resounding voice for change, but they got beaten down into oblivion it seems . . . and I love that you address this in your poem, how the Parkland spokeskids are still being labeled unfairly as out-of-touch troublemakers (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[Bob B]

Yes! Those Parkland "kids" are amazing. They are taking their misfortune and turning it into hope for change.

[Paul Bell]

I think you summed it up perfectly.
People just dismiss murder as someone else's misfortune.
Always amazed me you could buy a gun before you could legally drink.

[Bob B]

I know what you mean about dismissing murder as someone else's misfortune. When people are brutally murdered, we ALL lose. Thanks for reading the poem.