Uvalde
By: MCS Thompson
Small children
Bleeding to death
From no one coming.
To help them,
To shield them
From high-speed bullets
Savagely pulsing.
No one obeying
The protocol
That could save them
From desperately pulsing.
No one overriding
The flawed assessment
To spare them
From painfully pulsing.
Whispering children
Pleading for help
Trusting, waiting,
For rescue.
No one taking the risks
They had vowed to
That could relieve
Their agonized pulsing.
Instead, preventing
Their parents from
trying to save them
From mortally pulsing.
Small children
Bleeding to death
From no one coming.
All of MCS Thompson’s grandchildren live in Texas. The school shooting in Uvalde resonated with her deeply, as she has been a teacher and elementary school principal. She writes poetry, fiction, essays and editorials. She was born in Oregon, and now lives on an island in Washington state.