I didn’t know your name, but it kills me all the same

~I didn’t know your name 

but it kills me all the same~

🖤 

a life gone too fast

dreams that didn’t get a chance 

cut violently short

by a killer with a gun

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empty desks

half written papers

water flasks overturned

pencils askew

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in the cafeteria

a cheese sandwich left unfinished

milk growing warm

chairs hastily left scattered on the floor 

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eerily quiet school playground

abandoned and desolate

swings only slightly swaying

from the slight breeze

🖤

~I didn’t know your name

But it kills me all the same~

🖤

thoughts and prayers

don’t bring someone back from the dead 

innocent lives lost

grief permeating the entire community
🖤

empty words are the promises

politicians make

while children suffer 

their lack of action

🖤

I don’t have the answers 

but I know thoughts and prayers don’t cut it

school children shouldn’t live in fear

wondering if today will be their last.

🖤

© Rebekah Krause 2026

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I started writing this poem shortly after the September 10th, 2025 shooting at Evergreen Highschool in Evergreen, Colorado. Living in Colorado myself, with one of my kids being highschool age, caused me to feel more grief than usual over this school shooting. That being said, all school shootings are incredibly tragic and heart breaking, and that is what I hope to convey in this poem. I know there is no simple solution, but surely the typical inaction and “thoughts and prayers” sentiment is not the answer. That being said, I’m not looking to start a political debate. I’m just putting words to the grief I feel in regards to school shootings. 

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