On June 12, 2016, a deranged 29-year-old security guard killed 49 people and wounded 53 in Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. It was the deadliest mass public shooting in modern U.S. history.
One Year Later
Time passes Sleep ravels A smile might start:
the mind can weasel out of any trap
but there’s no real healing of the heart
A Sauer automatic can tear apart
a face or year pealing like a thunderclap
Still time passes sleep ravels smiles can start
She sang each morning He ran our supermart:
each memory stings sharper than a slap
How can there be a healing of the heart?
Our blood slows sickened by a poisoned dart
My bluebird my beau when you nestled by my lap
time passed sleep unraveled sly smiles might start
Now time’s tipped over like a broken cart
that carries nothing forward not a scrap
Nothing much to heal in an empty heart
And what of kindness mercy music art?
O how we all could dance tango and tap!
Time passes Sleep ravels A smile can start . . .
but there’s no real healing for a stricken heart
Peter Meinke is Poet Laureate of the State of Florida.
This article appears in Jun 8-15, 2017.