Thursday, April 4, 2013

Made in Heaven


This is a serious poem. I wrote this free verse poem shortly after the incident, and in Memory of the Sandy Hook Elementary School killings. It was a horrible event that has brought up so many important issues, such as gun control and mental illness.

Made in Heaven

It’s hard to believe
our tags show
‘Made in Heaven’
when we’re nowhere
near the same.

Me—a young child,
a life ahead,
fell and perished
by the hands of
a hater.

Me—a class teacher
a bucket list
I should achieve,
murdered in cold
blood by hate.

Me—an official
loving my job
and family,
had it taken
by disturbed hate.

‘Made in Heaven’—I
do believe you
were not what HE
had in mind when
HE gave life.

Was the pain and hate
too great that you
made your mom a
casualty of
your assault?

Or did you kill her
so she wouldn’t
see shocking acts
that her son would
carry out?

Is that the price the
rest of the world
pays for all the
ill, loners, bullied,
turned rancid?

Your legacy in
life, a monster
in disguise, is
only what we’ll
remember.

Until someone else
feels the same way
as you, and sums
up the price of
human life.

It’s not my right to
judge or question
even though my
life was cut short
of its time.

For now, I will sleep
with the angels
and pray for the
world and loved ones
left behind.


And hope that they know
I’m forever
safe—and wait since
we were all ‘Made
in Heaven’.

Children and Killings,
Bea

8 comments:

  1. This was both poignant and heartbreaking. It's also tragic that we'll glamorize the name of any mass killer, which means that the next one will always want to outdo the last.

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    1. Very true. Others will want their 15 minutes of fame and their name remembered.

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  2. The pain of lives cut short bears a terrible price. The living are left to face the consequenes of those who lash out in hate and desperation.

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    1. And there always seems to be another one around the corner.

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  3. Choosing a child for the speaker of the poem makes it so powerful, and then I start thinking what would an entire series of poems on the same subject come across if written with multiple speakers involved with the shootings?

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    1. ...talking to survivors and incorporating their experiences written as small Ballads, creating an Epic.

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  4. This is so raw & honest in your unanswered questions. I was devastated about Sandy Hook. I never even thought about composing poetry as a way to help cope. I'm mesmerized by your title and how it ties into the whole poem. Thank you for this perspective.

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    1. Thanks, Barb. I think poetry is a great outlet for expressing happiness and pain, even if you don't want to share it with others. It's just a way of getting it out.

      A discussion on Facebook regarding everything being 'Made in China' prompted the title.

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