Monday Morning Virginia Tech Poem by B. V. Dahlen

With youthful energy they tread
The campus paths towards morning class
With windblown hair and shoulders hunched
They greet their many friends who pass

Inside their classrooms they relax
and stretch their chilly arms and feet
Another week of toil begins
with many lessons to complete

and concentrating on their work
they do not heed the sounds that start
construction noises they suppose
The evil does not warn their heart

Then through the door a madman bursts
With gun in hand and empty eyes
who murders with unfeeling ease
and leaves as students bleed and die

How do we process tragedy
this crazy killing, lives cut short
What sense is there that we can grasp
How can we find a way to sort

Out the emotions that explode
this fear, and hate and keen distress
That threatens now to smother us
and joy within our souls suppress

This senseless massacre invades
our hearts with dread and hopelessness
Exploring through my poetry
I try to grasp and then express

The strong emotions that I feel
These sentiments I organize
and in their writing I find peace
with language even hate defies