"I Hear America Weeping"

The first line of a famous Walt Whitman poem reads,
“I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear…”

In the wake of the events at a small school in Newtown, Connecticut…



I hear America weeping, to the varied carols I hear,

The children’s choirs singing “Silent Night” to honor voices abruptly silenced,

The grief-stricken citizens mourning when they hear “I’ll be home for Christmas,”

The shaken President’s tears mirroring the pain of a nation as "The Littlest Angel" echoes in my mind,

The crooner on the radio singing, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”...if only that could be,

The holiday carols will come and go 
But this year…
I hear America weeping, to the varied carols I hear, 
And wonder…
“Do you hear what I hear?”