The Shine Journal - The Light Left Behind
Journeys Through Grief and Beyond
On Sandy Hook
by
Valerie Gray
Long pigtails, short cropped hair- ribbons and flowers and silly songs...learning their abcs ...and I don't Like Green Eggs and Ham...throwing back their heads and screaming in delight as the swings push them higher and higher to the skies....everyone's children or grandchild - could be yours or mine....20 of them ...lost forever in the sounds of gunshots and smoke..
Oh I weep, for the children who...never will see, another birthday, or sunset or Christmas tree..
Seven brave people..stood up to defend and faced the madness with passion and strength- guardians to the end...
Oh, I weep for the living...the parents, the friends....who did not see their loved ones come runnng to them...and their last horrific images of the slain cannot be undone...
I pray that they find comfort in the midst of their grief...and I pray that this madness will someday cease... because these children and their protectors could have been yours or mine...
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Valerie Gray is an Atlanta businesswoman and an accomplished writer. Her work appeared in the former TSJ.
Novacaine
by
Valerie Gray
I lie here....
watching the cold gray eyes of dawn open wide...
and sleepily allow the pinks and blues of a new mourning....
to flicker across the horizon...
I cannot lie.....
and say I think of you...
I merely watch... and wait....
for the numbness to go.
Motivation: I wanted to write a poem in the style of ee cummings while reflecting on a typical relationship issue.
Bio: Valerie Gray is an Atlanta businesswomaen and accomplished writer.