all students are safe

you will never know
the last time
(i will not live in fear)

it could arrive whispering
along the fault line of an earthquake

or by colorful explosion
counted precisely down at midnight

you will never know
the last time
(i will not live in fear)

the gift found in the horror
is the realization

that the bus you put your child on in the morning
might never return again

(so love, loudly — and live)