Commemoration, Newtown, Connecticut, December 2012

Do you remember when you were six
Living in that polychrome world of sun without set?
When even a wintry day was bright?
And summer fun stretched into eternity
As fall’s ambiguity staved off the coming frost.

Do you remember when you were six
How tall your mother was? And taller yet your father?
The tallness of the world around you, everything perpendicular
like the hope of everything you’d become
in the dreams you had of being once you grew up.

Do you remember when you were six
And you looked into the mirror to see your face?
What did you think when you were six? Of that face
pedestaled upon those shoulders, too tiny for burdens, yet
time would press its needs and innocence would succumb.

Do you remember when you were six
And that face in the mirror became recognizable as you?
How did you feel about you? You made a face in the mirror,
stuck out your tongue, wiggled your ears and thumbed your nose.
But after all the clowning was said and done, there you were.

Do you remember when you were six?
Just about. Not really. A little bit. And that’s the point.
Did you care what your face looked like in the mirror? Curiosity aside.
Or did you see the day as a singular, polished jewel, complete in and of itself.
Do you remember when you were six and you loved life?

Do you remember when you were six?
And you were free
Of striving for the sake of being, of beauty in comparison, of loving for the sake of love in return,
Do you remember when you were six and life was complete?

In memoriam: Charlotte Bacon, Daniel Barden, Olivia Engel, Josephine Gay, Ana Marquez-Greene, Catherine V. Hubbard, Jesse Lewis, Grace McDonnell, Emilie Parker, Noah Pozner, Caroline Previdi, Jessica Rekos, Madeleine F. Hsu, Chase Kowalski, James Mattioli, Dylan Gockley, Jack Pinto, Avielle Richman, Benjamin Wheeler, Allison N. Wyatt.