An American tragedy

The days are gettin’ longer

Summer’s round the corner

Birdsong, plants and carnage,

School shooters on the rampage.

Troubled teens crave that feeling

Of power over innocents kneeling

Begging to be spared

The depredations of the impaired.

Another chorus of condemnation

Of Republican machinations

As Democrats gain traction

On gun violence and inaction.

Grief and anger fuel protests

Shaming gunmakers and their apologists,

And police who freeze when kids plead

As killers go about their heinous deeds.

A new low for a nation that puts guns

On a higher pedestal than its young ones

When men in blue fear for their lives

As fourth-graders are killed and brutalized.

But how do we tell our kids the story

Of what happened in Uvalde?

That they too could fall prey

To cowardice or ineptitude some day?