Though we need to weep your loss,
You dwell in that safe place in our hearts
Where no storm or night or pain can reach you.

Your love was like the dawn

This thing, this blackness we call grief,
menacing as the dark storm cloud
that moves in silent threat,
Never knowing at what moment
It will strike and with what intensity.

Grief is no respecter of status or person,

The pain of death is not with those who have passed on.
It lives in the hearts of those who remain behind.

An unbearable ache that grows with each empty day.
Days without our children; comforting them, holding them, drying their tears and sharing their laughter.

Our children have passed into a place of calmness, comfort and peace

AS WE LIGHT THESE FOUR CANDLES IN HONOR OF YOU,

WE LIGHT ONE FOR OUR GRIEF, ONE FOR OUR COURAGE,

ONE FOR OUR MEMORIES AND ONE FOR OUR LOVE.


THIS CANDLE REPRESENTS OUR GRIEF. THE PAIN OF

LOSING YOU IS INTENSE. IT REMINDS US OF THE DEPTH

I miss you more than you’ll ever know
The world is not the same without you here
Sadness washes over me without a moments notice
Your presence can be so clear

I wish I could me that Mom again
The one who answered every call

For Jill, Written by April Muir, Jill's Sister

Of all the things that are left behind

When a person leaves this world,

The one to treasure above all else

About Avery: Avery Beer is 9 years old, and her mommy, Kori Beer, died in 2005. Avery is an amazing girl who wrote this beautiful tribute to all of those at Virginia Tech. Here is what she wrote:

This is a poem I wrote for those at Virginia Tech. If you knew any of them I'm sorry to hear. Oh and when I wrote it I was thinking of the family of these people so it's sort of said by the students.

I thought I'd share a song I wrote for my son...
David was a Gulf War vet who died as a result of Gulf War Illness which he suffered with for 13 years...he was 36.

GOOD NIGHT SWEET KNIGHT

My grief is a constant companion
Too familiar the sting of my tears

There is a special Angel in Heaven
that is a part of me.
It is not where I wanted him
but where God wanted him to be.

he was here but just a moment
like a night time shooting star.

Thirteen years ago she'd brought him home,
this child who'd never had a home.
Nights, she tied her wrist to his
with a satin ribbon so he could sleep,
as if she could repair the dark

And what does it mean to mourn? I asked.
And a wise elder stepped forward and said:

To mourn is to be given a second heart.
It is to care so deeply that you show your ache in person.

To mourn is to be unashamed of tears.

You asked, “How are you doing?”
As I told you, tears came to my eyes…
and you looked away
and quickly began to talk again.
All the attention you had give me drained away.