What in hell did you do to
deserve to die at the flash
point of hate?

Innocence taken before
you had fully lived ---

(Not that being an adult and
losing your life makes it any
better.  Not that surviving
with less then you were born
with makes it any easier.)

But you were a child.  Just a
child ---

eight years old:  wide eyed
wonderment at the colors
surrounding you, the cheers
lifted as the runners ran
toward the finish line ---

You had your whole life to
run.  Your parents' dream,
their hopes for a future ---

No more hurting people.
PEACE.

May your words teach us
the lesson we've failed
up to now.