What Exactly I Would Say

How cruel

that I have to imagine

what exactly I would say

to the children

who would hide in my closet

if a man bent on death

and destruction

chooses our school

for his production.

When the lights are flashing

and the speakers are calling

out the final act,

I would close the door

behind me.

I would not let him

find an audience

among us.

I would hold their hands

so fiercely they would leave

with a mark.

“This is the most terrible thing,”

I have rehearsed, “and

you are not alone.”

I would stake the whole

of my life

and theirs

on the weight

of that “and”