Reconciliation

I sit here crying

I don’t know why

I didn’t know the children

I didn’t know the parents

But I knew their spirit

I knew their love

I know their loss

I know their potential

And I am overwhelmed

By the pain and the hurt

The pain of the families and friends

The pain of an entire people

Unable to protect them, to help them

To comfort them, to love them

I did not know them

But the pain is so real, so personal

I feel it in my core, my heart, my spirit

I sit here crying and I am not ashamed

I will cry for them, and the many others like them

I will cry for you, I will cry for me

I’ll cry for the what could have been

Then I will calm myself, smudge myself, offer prayers

And know they are no longer in pain

No longer do they hurt, they are at peace

In time I will tell their story, I will educate society

So their memory is not lost to this world

And when I am asked

what does reconciliation mean to me

I will say I want their lives back

I want them to live, to soar

I want to hear their laughter

See their smiles

Give me that And I’ll grant you reconciliation