All the children remain silent.
Their world, freshly shattered,
By the bullets of a madman,
And hate they did not know.
All the adults remain speechless.
Their theories, all fractured,
By this senseless act of murder,
And hate that will now grow.
All the analysts are busy.
Their answers never cease,
To the question in the paper,
The haunting question “Why?”
All the parents remain staggered.
Their world no longer real,
And never will it be again,
Children aren’t meant to die.
All the deceased remain deceased.
All those killed, remain dead.
All those living bear the burden,
But cannot ease the pain.
All those taken remain taken.
Some taken, still alive.
For part of everyone has died
With children in Dunblane.
All the guilty remain guilty,
All innocence is lost.
Through actions of a hate filled man,
Beyond the worst of fears.
All the children remain shattered.
Their world, filled with silence,
Save the echo of the gunshots,
And memory of their tears.
 

By Lloyd McLean (1996)

This poem was written in response to the Dunblane massacre in 1996, where 16 students and a teacher lost their lives, before the gunman turned the gun on himself. This took place on the 13th of March 1996 and I remember being shellshocked by the news. It was hard to imagine something like this happening. The Port Arthur massacre was just over a month later.