In Memoriam - Columbine

Sunday, April 20 will mark fifteen years since the shootings at Columbine High School. Sometimes we tend to forget the tragedies that affected our country and shaped it over the years, and we need to be reminded of what was lost.

One student that was lost in this tragedy comes to mind frequently for me, as she was an aspiring writer. She would go to the library as her place of refuge during her free time, and use the quiet to work on poems and her autobiography. As many of you know, the library was the scene of most of the violence carried out that day. The student’s name was Kelly Ann Fleming.

Today, I want to display one of her poems. It is already viewable around the Internet, but it cannot hurt to show her work somewhere else. While it can be painful to remember such events, to allow the loss of so much young life to be forgotten is inexcusable.

Can That Be?

Kelly Ann Fleming

I step outside, what did I hear?

I heard the whispers,

And the cries of the people’s fear.

The loneliness of wisdom,

Can that be?

The sad, sad sorrow that I see,

That’s past in the trees,

Is it true, can it be real?

Can I let them know how I really feel?

The things that I have seen,

The things that I have felt,

The feelings of sorrow

That I hope will soon melt.

Wherever I looked,

Wherever I turned,

I see shadows all through the night.

I put my head down and said a little prayer,

To tell the Lord the sad, sad sorrow,

And the lonely cries that I have heard.

After a minute of silence, of wisdom,

I looked up slowly,

I saw a thing that I have never seen.

I saw a light and asked myself can that be?

Was it real or was it a dream?

I didn’t know but hopefully

It will come to me.

It was bright and I was scared.

I didn’t know what or if I should see.

I looked and then it came to me.

It was a dream.

When I was turning to walk away,

I heard a voice.

Kelly Fleming was sixteen years old.