Nanowrimo - Poetry

Here is today's excerpt.  The poem was written by me on November 13, 2001 - So eerie that was the date of the Paris terrorist attacks.

Her coffee was cold, and as she reheated it she leafed through the tattered journal and found this written for K on her twelfth birthday, November 13th, 2001

Peaceful Wish

If I could wish
for just one thing
On a clear November sky,
I wish for peace for all
who see the stars go
sailing by.

I wish a child’s laughter
was the only cause for
mother’s tears,

I wish a father’s arms
could put to rest a
child’s fears.

Yes, I could wish for
emeralds and gold
and jewels to fill the sky,

But all I want is peace
for those who watch
the stars sail by.

She remembered back to that year, two months after 9/11.  On the morning of 9/11 she had been camping with her class in the local mountains, her son had been hiking with his class on a four day trek, her daughter had been in school, her husband had been at work.  Her greatest fear had been realized that when disaster struck she was not with her family, and her family wasn’t with each other. 

As a teacher she had tried to allay the fears of her Grade Six students, but this particular student’s father had arrived to take her away to bunker down in their cabin in the interior. 

That had frightened the class more than anything – the removal of this one child.

As she looked at the birth date of K, she realized it was November 13.  The same day, when this year, the Paris attacks had taken place.  

She didn’t believe in coincidences. Clearly she had hope fourteen years ago.  Where had it gone?