I thought of you 15 years old
and your parents who weep
for their son who’s life ended
much too soon, another
fragrant willow clipped
with the blunt shears of
a world gone mad.
Another life taken by a mass
shooter who name I refuse to
recall.
I thought of the life you
should be living,
all the milestones you’ll
miss, a future that should
be fully in bloom.
I mourn for the
shadows of other
children senselessly
gunned down
Faded blossoms
and the fullest summers
that might have been.
I pondered how anyone can
be indifferent
to a wind that continues to
shutter and lash out.
Endangering elms and
our humanity.
I long for a day where
the headlines aren’t
filled with grieving families
and discourse that solves
nothing, but perpetuates hate
Whiplashing our brains
with fear and despair.
You won’t be forgotten.
precious child.
You didn’t deserve
such a hellish fate,
nor will I forget the ones
who inevitably will come
after you if we don’t
start acknowledging the
thunderthrottled air.
Rest in peace. I hope
you’re in a place where
the monochrome scales
of this world have gone
a serene blue.
A place where the weather
never conspires against you
and your soul is a lexicon
of green serenity.
-Tosha Michelle
Everything I Never Told You 