Today’s mail brought my paperback copy of Angels Cried, a new anthology dedicated to the memory of those lost at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012, and to their survivors. Proceeds are going to the Sandy Hook School Support Fund, which is managed by the United Way.

The book is a collaborative effort of Indies in Action, a Facebook group of writers and artists, thirty-nine of whom donated work to the project. Poems, short stories, bits of memoir, and drawings fill over 150 pages. Some pieces reflect directly on the Sandy Hook tragedy. Others, like my poem “Through Two Unblackened Eyes,” express the awfulness of violence and fear intruding where security should be a given. Still others are sweet homages to childhood.

Stephen L. Wilson masterminded the book’s production, completing the ebook version within two weeks of the tragedy. The paperback version quickly followed. It is available through several outlets, but it’s my understanding that purchases made directly from CreateSpace yield the best percentage of the purchase price to the charity fund.

Now, I won’t add to the hoo-hah about gun control or funding for mental health treatment. I won’t sermonize about God calling the little ones home.

I just want to express how very, very sad I am for all those whose loved ones were wrenched away.

When my mother lost her favorite sister, she was distraught because she no longer had her dearest friend to talk to. I tried to console Ma with the fact that Aunt Annette was living in heaven, so we could still talk to her. Ma cried, “It’s not the same,” and wept even harder.

Ma was right. It’s not the same.

So, no platitudes from me about my faith in a happy forever home with the Lord. Just my heart weeping with the survivors. For them, it will never be the same.