<snip>

"They said the birds refused to sing and the thermometer fell suddenly... as 
if God Himself had His breath stolen away. No one there dared speak aloud, 
as much in shame as in sorrow. They uncovered the bodies one by one. The 
eyes of the dead were closed as if waiting for permission to open them. Were 
they still dreaming of ice cream and monkey bars? Of birthday cake and no 
future but the afternoon? Or had their innocence been taken along with their 
lives, buried in the cold earth so long ago? These fates seemed too cruel, 
even for God to allow. Or are the tragic young born again when the world's 
not looking? I want to believe so badly; in a truth beyond our own, hidden 
and obscured from all but the most sensitive eyes... In the endless 
procession of souls, in what cannot and will not be destroyed. I want to 
believe we are unaware of God's eternal recompense and sadness. That we 
cannot see His truth. That that which is born still lives and cannot be 
buried in the cold earth. But only waits to be born again at God's behest... 
where in ancient starlight we lay, in repose."