Incidence

A small item in the world news last month,
A man in a small town not far from here
Shot each of his five children and his wife,
And mother-in-law, and then himself.

All of the bodies were found in their home,
After the wife failed to show up one day
For an appointment, and someone called in
A welfare check. This happened. These are facts,

As they were reported, details to come.
Being wholly human, you want to ask,
How is it incidents like this happen,
And what more should be done to prevent them?

Other humans, being wholly human,
Can and will offer up explanations,
Suggestions, possibly legislation.
Locally, it will settle into lore.

But it’s a bad story, no good in it,
Which means you don’t know what to do with it,
You struggle to extract meaning from it,
Strain to forget it, hate to admit it.