April 24, 2018

TOgether

this grief is too large for words

we try to stretch our hands around it

we struggle to grasp it

but it is ungraspable

no sane thought can hold this

no one person bear the load

this grief is too large

one alone cannot bear it

when one of us bleeds

do not all of us bleed

this grief is ours

theirs, yours, mine

ours

On the afternoon of April 23, 2018 a madman

drove a rented van along a busy Toronto sidewalk

He killed ten people and wounded dozens more.

Our city is in shock.

We cannot, of ourselves, make evil disappear;

but standing together we can ease its burden.