If I die in a school shooting
I'll never go home again.
My room will sit unused,
A capsule frozen in time,
A snapshot of how I was.

If I die in a school shooting
I'll never see my dog again.
She will sit at the front door
Waiting for me and wondering,
Why I never came home.

If I die in a school shooting
I'll never graduate from high school.
My yearbooks will sit stacked
Stopped short of their goal,
Missing years that should have been.

If I die in a school shooting
I'll never see my mom again.
She will sit distraught,
Planning a funeral
For a child taken from her.

If I die in a school shooting
I'll never see my friends again.
They'll sit together, missing me.
One empty seat among them,
A constant reminder of their loss.

If I die in a school shooting
I'll never see my little sister again.
She will sit through high school
Knowing I can't guide her through,
That she has to figure it out alone.

If I die in a school shooting
My school will be stained.
Pools of students lives will sit,
Blood tattoos on the brick structures,
Marks of death ground into it.

If I die in a school shooting
Everyone will wear black.
They'll send their thoughts and prayers
To a town marred by death,
Forever to be the home of a shooting.

If I die in a school shooting
Will the world change?
Or will I become one of hundreds  
Of kids who have to die?
What will it take?

If things continue this way
Children will have to live in fear.
They'll look over their shoulders
Always worried and wondering,
If they'll die in a school shooting.

‘It will get colder than this’, said He,
On a rainy late August afternoon.
Knowing that would not matter
I thought of him alone in his chair.

So sad I was but not for me, now,
I had known for such a long time
And the pain spreads itself along
But thinking him, singular, alone.

I no longer able to comfort him
Or stroke his hair’s silver thread
And watch a finger on keyboard
This is unbearable priceless love.

Love Mary x

Today the Summer lets go of its hold
Dripping rain drops from the trees
Swaying its closure of green growth
The tips of the Acer turning reddish.

The dance of ends splits my heart
Leaving sarratteted round its edge
Autumn’s promise of golden days
The Foxglove leaf a fallen emblem.

Love Mary