BRATTLEBORO — Our Town is hurting
Our Town, full of playful spirit, friendly faces
good hearts, is hurting.
Young people taken from us
suddenly, seeming without reason,
a woman who chose to help the less fortunate
taken from us brutally.
The very trees seem to have lost their ability,
their desire to stand upright, strong
undermined by the soil they root in
their trunks ravaged, branches
littering the muddy ground.
* * *
But we are undeterred:
there is too much Life here,
young, creative force
that can't be brought down.
What will be our part?
But first we must weep
and from the tears our hearts open
from grief to compassion.
Our tears will clear vision.
We'll find our way to belief and love.
-A. Distler