Looking out: Hear them

Hear them

By Brandon Astor Jones

haiku. An unrhymed Japanese lyric poem having a fixed 3-line, 17-syllable form [5-syllables in lines one and three, 7-syllables in line two.] — Webster's II New Riverside Dictionary.

As a small poetic memorial to all of the lives lost in the Oklahoma City bombing, the following compositions will focus on the children.

While each haiku tells its own story, as is proper, I thought a series of six collectively would tell what I think is the greater story, which is life's perpetual triumph over untimely death.

CHILDREN

Ah ... Oklahoma's

In our hearts and souls always,

There, live forever

CHILDREN: CANDY-LIFE

Finding emptiness

Alas, their parental cup(s)

Do not run over

CHILDREN GROW

To be adults true ...

Nevertheless, the child

Deep inside remains

CHILDREN LEARNING

Technology's road

Informative as it is

Can teach good and bad

CHILDREN ENDURING BYTES

Sometimes do not hurt

From incompatible software

Despite painful chunks

CHILDREN SPEAK TO BOMBERS:

Please turn off your screens

Let us ripen, not like you ...

We shall build anew!

[The writer is a prisoner on death row in the United States. He is happy to receive letters commenting on his columns. He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, EF-122216, G2-51, GD&CC, PO Box 3877, Jackson, GA 30233, USA.]

From GLW issue 191