Deafening silent settled with the choking smoke
On the heavy shoulders of every wide eyed witness
Outside the lobby of their home away from home.
Hundreds of lights twirled in their sickening dance on blacktop dance floor
Spinning like twisted tops that warn to beware high speeds,
Their music mute for the moment, but only long enough
For their bloody black luggage to be brought aboard.
Once the sobs and screams and cries need are silenced
By the slam of cold double doors, and off they went
To die, to be dead, or see if there’s hope of life.

The stone that lodged itself in our throats seemed to grow
And let us know iwasn't’t going anywhere soon.
Tears wouldn’t come and there was little we could do but pray
There dam would break and new reality would be only a fake,
A mere shadow of a nightmare brought on by too much popcorn.
Every red and blue flash bringing on a tug-a-war for the soul,
Question whether to stay or go and know nothing more than darkness,
Such sweet darkness that wipes away every thought but sleep.
Every light catches a glimpse of a hole where a shot is lodged,
And once again its wondered whether it was dodged or whether
There is blood on the tip. And slowly the shock fades.

Eyes dart everywhere, at everything and every one, every twitch a blip
On some over worked, underpaid, under slept cop’s radar.
The cliff where everyone’s nerved stood seemed to crumble in slow-mo.
Invisible nooses pulled tighter with ever tick-tock, tick-tock of hidden clock
Adrenaline had only started the raise, chasing sleep away
Into a darkness cut by the sounds of the sobs echoing into the night.
Warm arms were not longer felt and the black inch of a starless sky
Enveloped the once strong. An infant’s cries had been forever silenced,
And a madman in a mask had rocked him into the eternal sleep, and done the same
For a dozen others fellow humans.

As day broke the grey haze, the questions on everyone’s mind:
Was there hope for a new day? Will it all go away?
Will there be rest for the living and justice for all?
A pretty pink sunrise answered it all in a single moment.

With bright yellow take in site and nothing going right,
There was still a sunrise after the night, and after the night came day
And in a way, looking back, there was hope in every ray of sunlight.
A man would pay for his crimes, and the lines between good and evil
Would no longer be blurred, because like Batman says,
Crime doesn’t pay.