The Entire Nation Watches

On the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14,2012

The entire nation watches

as you bury your child,

place with her a branch

of snowy soft petals that will

flower season after season,

pack with her crayons

and oversized paper so she

can draw you into eternity.

You lay your newly-amputated

arms around her in the coffin

and bury this beautiful child,

then ask our great nation,

you ask us

Why are there so many bullets

in my daughter’s tiny

six-year-old body?