A Poem: Words To Speak

Memorial - Photo by Robert Short, from cbc.ca website

WORDS TO SPEAK

by Sara Jewell

I keep coming back to a set of words spoken 

by a woman in Ottawa in October 2014

as Corporal Nathan Cirillo 

lay bleeding to death beneath our national war memorial

after being shot by a lone gunman on a rampage

Barbara Winters was walking to work

when she heard the shots

when she ran towards the danger

when she lay down alongside Corporal Cirillo 

and whispered to him, over and over,  

“You are loved. You are brave. You are good.”

Today we remember and honour and mourn 

the first anniversary of the mass killings in rural Nova Scotia

that took 22 people –

parents, spouses, children, siblings, neighbours, friends, colleagues – 

loved ones

cherished ones – 

from their families and communities 

We remember those who rushed out of the safety of their homes 

and lost their lives trying to help, to save:

“You are loved. You are brave. You are good.” 

We remember those whose little peace of heaven 

fuelled roaring flames that reached towards the stars:

“You are loved. You are brave. You are good.”

We remember those who started their day 

with a walk or a drive to work but did not return home:

“You are loved. You are brave. You are good.”

We remember Constable Heidi Stevenson 

who lost her life confronting evil masquerading as good:

“You are loved. You are brave. You are good.”

If those are words we speak to the dying, 

what words do we speak to the survivors, 

those who lived and worked through that terror? 

those who live with the loss of people they loved?

We honour the police officers and firefighters and paramedics 

who ran toward the danger because it is their work: 

“You are loved. You are brave. You are good.” 

We honour the leaders – municipal and spiritual –

who offered comfort and support with their own broken hearts:

“You are loved. You are brave. You are good.”

 

We honour the families and neighbours and friends

who seek answers that will never change what happened:

“You are loved. You are brave. You are good.”

We mourn with them as we remember: 

You are loved. You are brave. You are good. 

You are not alone. 

Those are the only words there are

then

now 

There are no other words 

for their grief

for their disbelief

for their despair, their rage, their if-onlys

There are no other words

for their loss

for their isolation

for their memories, their wishes, their what-ifs

We can only lay down alongside them today 

as they bleed from reopened wounds

and whisper over and over, 

“You are loved. You are brave. You are good. 

We are here. We are strong.

You are not alone.”

In memory of:

Tom Bagley – Kristen Beaton – Jamie Blair – Greg Blair – Joy Bond – Peter Bond – Corrie Ellison – Gina Goulet – Dawn Madsen Gulenchyn – Frank Gulenchyn – Lillian Hyslop – Alanna Jenkins – Lisa McCully – Sean McLeod – Heather O’Brien – Jolene Oliver – Heidi Stevenson – Emily Tuck – Aaron Tuck – E. Joanne Thomas – Joey Webber – John Zahl 

April 18 & 19, 2020