A frenzied Soul

A frenzied soul
In unspeakable grief
Lost reason and control
Unto our disbelief

He having blamed God
For the death of a child
Did what we can't fathom
To the innocent and mild

We can only guess
The anguish he felt
And have no access
To the "why" of what he dealt

For he stormed a room
And released all the males
Then in a hot fume
The bullets hailed

Then with each girl hit
He took his own life...
If only he had let
Himself be taught in strife

For no apparent
Rhyme or reason
This loving parent
Committed treason

He left behind
Children of his own
They knew not his mind
Just the love he'd blown

But to their surprise
Knocking on their door
Were many pairs of eyes
Offering love and more

It was the families
Of those who had been shot
Who despite their agonies
Came to help the distraught

A lesson of forgiveness
A generation late
But so grand to witness
How it healed all the hate

More potential pain
Was stopped in its tracks
And sins torrential reign
Was taken from their backs

James E. Faust
The Healing Power of Forgiveness- second poem
Ensign, May 2007, 67

Ex. 34: 7
Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the eguilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
Num. 14: 18
The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.