Was it something I said?
by L. Stewart Marsden
Was it something I said?
Was it something I did?
That sent you, compelled you
to do what you did?
Was I the last straw?
Was I the “That’s it!”?
The one who propelled you
over the cliff?
If so, I am so,
so, so very sorry!
I had no idea! No inkling! No thought
that I filled you with worry.
Will you please, please forgive me?
Reconsider? Return?
Will you please slow your anger,
and stop the slow burn?
Will you let me embrace you?
Comfort, and grace you
With wound-healing balm
Poured out to becalm you?
Let me replace the hurt with a smile,
Let me experience your life for a mile,
So you learn as you turn
You’ve been loved all the while.
Was it I who offended?
Let us reason, we two
so the wound will be mended
between me and you.
If you go to the Rachel’s Challenge website, you will learn that this is what Rachel Joy Scott, one of the first victims to fall in the Columbine massacre, fleshed out in her life. It is the effect of her life, not the tragedy of her death, that has remained a compelling force for change in public schools across the nation in bringing attention to how we should treat one another. We will never know how many more Columbines there might have been but for Rachel’s legacy.
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nice poem
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