In Memory of Those We Lost...

 

 

We are Virginia Tech

We are sad today and we will be sad for quite a while

We are not moving on

We are embracing our mourning

 

We are Virginia Tech

We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly

We are brave enough to bend to cry

and sad enough to know we must laugh again


We are Virginia Tech

We do not understand this tragedy

We know we did nothing to deserve it

But neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS

Neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid being captured by a rogue army

Neither does the baby elephant watching his community be devastated for ivory

Neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water

Neither does the Appalachian infant killed in the middle of the night

In his crib in the home his father built with his own hands

Being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized

 

No one deserves a tragedy

 

We are Virginia Tech

The Hokie Nation embraces our own and reaches out with open heart and hands

To those who offer their hearts and minds

We are strong and brave and innocent and unafraid

We are better than we think and not quite what we want to be

We are alive to the imagination and the possibility

We will continue to invent the future

Through our blood and tears

Through all this sadness


We are the Hokies

We will prevail

We will prevail

We will prevail

We are Virginia Tech

 

- Nikki Giovanni, 4/17/2007

** attempted transcript from YouTube

Blacksburg Wind

The wind disturbs the slumber of a restless winter night.
Pushing on the bluestone in an endless, futile fight.
And rattles at the window panes, demanding that we hear A soundtrack for our nightmares and of all that we might fear.

And then she’s our companion, a gentle April breeze That tugs upon our shirtsleeves in a playful little tease.
And brushes brash forsythia, the pioneer of spring.
And fans our hopes that we can do and dream most anything.

Kiss the lilacs in the springtime, firm the footprints in the frost.
And forever bear the voices of the 32 we lost.

- Unknown Author -

For those interested, please go to www.vt.edu for an official link to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, as well as to counseling resources nationally, memorial services planned by alumni chapters and other groups, and other information about the events of recent or coming days.

Last edited

03/08/2010