A word on Virginia Tech

This is obviously off-topic, but I can’t help myself.  I was a student at Virginia Tech two years ago today, when something unspeakably horrible happened.

At the time, the only thing I could think to say was the few words written below.  It is still all I have to say.

The Drillfield

I am standing at the center of this field,
letting the grass run before me and behind me
and feeling the ground slope gently at my feet.

I tell myself to concentrate
on the soft greenness of this grass
and the doming expanse of this brilliant sky.

Do not think of those cinderblock walls,
those sharp sounds that divided a wailing wind,
those faces that must not change forever

Their time will come
and will remain.

Remember now the paths that led you to walk across this field,
the lights that glittered against a foggy darkness,
and the grass that must run so deep, so deep.

Remember what it meant to stand at the center of this field,
how the earth ran in all directions
and cupped you in its soft green hands.