For Knoxville
July 30th, 2008 by Eisha and Jules
For Knoxville and the members of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church after this tragic event last weekend:
{Taken from Honeybee: Poems & Short Prose, Greenwillow, 2008; posted with gracious permission from Naomi Shihab Nye.}
Another poem by Naomi Shahib Nye which speaks to this sort of experience is here — scroll down to “El Paso Sky.”
(Disclosure: I do the Web stuff for that publisher, so I knew of the book that way.)
We hear so little of news stories here that aren’t political, but this definitely needs all the Kleenex in the sheaf.
That’s a strong poem.
I didn’t know about this til I saw your post and clicked on the link. What a horrible event–going after people who are doing great good, it sounds like (promoting tolerance and compassion) and how wonderful that people took action and prevented it from being worse than it might have been.
What a terrible event. My thoughts are with the families and the congregation… and with the two of you.
-Susan
This is a scary life. I think of those families quite a lot these days.
I no longer watch the evening news because I can not bear to see these stories. I keep a box of tissues next to the computer instead.
My heart and prayers go out to these families. It’s an unspeakable tragedy. May God be with them.