Mute Witness

The flowers.

The teddy bears.

The candles.

Ranged against the fence of the school

Lingering

as a mute witness

to an immense tragedy.

The line where water had been

rising against the house

Into the house

as flood waters raged.

Trees uprooted.

Roads washed out.

The remains

Lingering

as a mute witness

to an immense tragedy.

The small cross

with silk flowers

standing at the side of the road

near the guard rail

marking the place of unexpected death.

Lingering

as a mute witness

to an immense tragedy.

We toss them about

in our minds.

The u-shaped contrail of a 9-11 jet.

The empty chair at dinner.

The broken heart.

Lingering

as a mute witness

to an immense tragedy.

The quote "It lingered as a mute witness to an immense tragedy" is from James Harish's Easter Earthquake and refers to the contrail left by the Challenger space shuttle after it exploded.