Las Vegas Shooting - Unfathomable Grief! Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

Las Vegas, where was fate looking when
terror played its card of grief;
Las Vegas, where was alertness hiding when carefree
innocent people were standing there at a music show
unsuspecting of any harm or injury?
Las Vegas, how could death confront them
when love for music was their only sin?
Las Vegas, why could tragedy not avert itself
when the world acclaims thee for thy popularity and fame?
And as those bullets reined upon them from afar
how much each one of them might have thronged to escape
how much they must have hoped that
it was not one of them to get shot;
how much they must have prayed in that spur of the moment
that life may allot them a second chance.
But the forecast of life had already chosen
the ones who would writhe in pain,
the ones who would face the end,
and those who were left behind aghast of horror
were so shaken by sudden disbelief and despair;
How much they must have tried to run, tried to hide
how much they must have cried aloud,
if only had God to hear their pleas
they would have never walked that alley of grief.
Las Vegas a place where day meets night
and night meets day, ushering unending vibrancy.
Las Vegas where casinos make rich men richer
and others who try sometimes turn winners
but this day turned so grim, so formidable
when just one single gunman decided
to roll the roulette of bullets mercilessly
sending people down to the ground and to hospitals.
Where was humanity hiding its power of perception
when life was excruciating, penetrating, agonizing
that those who are left behind must have felt death
touch their own hearts while watching their loved ones fall
while watching their loved ones slump lifelessly to the ground
without a final hug or a word of farewell.