Love your loved ones well -
tell them you do,
because when the old have to go,
we know their time has come,
but when a terrified woman
dies in our keep,
it leaves far too many people weeping.

And what about the young?
In the midst of life
someone's son, senselessly, is dying.
He should be having fun -
one with the sun still at noon,
his sudden eclipse -
it's too soon.
And what of the ones left behind,
empty and staring?
Wasn't it glaringly obvious?

Oh gentle seeker,
why did your quest for wholeness
lead to a slit through which to slip your soul?
Did your crystal ball reveal the inexorable?
Did you steal a glance at the one
who led that devastating dance to the exit sign
and then fled?
You knew how that terrible tango would end,
you screamed for help,
yet no one came to your defense.

Celebrity cut short your stay
in this sycophantic land of the football hero.
A tyrannical touch-down
revoked your visa
and as your lives leaked down to zero,
the crowds cheered and cheered.

Here in this land of the slave and the fee,
where the guilty buy innocence,
I see that freedom is battered
while the light sputters vainly on that statue
called Liberty.

To the ones who care,
incredulous questions remain:
the raging refrain of,
"Why? Why? Why?"