Bradey Scott spent the weekend of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings trying to keep his 5-year-old daughter away from the television screen. But come Monday, the fifth-grade teacher at Rashkis Elementary School knew he would not be able to avoid the subject.
Even before the shootings, the Chapel Hill teacher was planning to have his 10- and 11-year-old students write poems of hope, inspired by the holiday season and the book “Peaceful Pieces.”
"Little did I know how appropriate the assignment would align in helping my students deal with the emotions they were sorting through," he wrote us recently, asking if we would print some of the poems. I said we would take a look and try to publish a few. Scott sent eight, all of which we now hope to run Sunday, including this one below, "Moonlight" by a 10-year-old girl named Carolyn.
Bradey hoped the assignment might help the students process their feelings and focus on something positive. The assignments weren't due until that Wednesday, but many students arrived Tuesday morning eager to share their Peaceful Poems. "As the poems continued to come in, I was inspired by the maturity, the depth of reflection, and the honesty shared in the poems," he wrote.
We think you may be inspired too. Here is Carolyn's poem:
Moonlight
I lay down my head,
And slowly close my eyes,
Darkness fills my mind.
A vision appears,
Me,
No,
It doesn’t feel like me,
It feels like fear,
And has rage inside.
It feels like a shadow,
Living in a dark world,
Where people hate each other
And get killed by the second
There is no love,
No hope,
No one cares.
The world is a shadow devouring every life form,
Devouring itself,
Into a black hole,
Darkness and hate,
My mind is filled with darkness again.
I can’t wake up
NO, no,
I can’t get out,
Finally my eyes open,
Out the window, I see the moonlight.
Thank you moonlight.
Thank you.
