Letter: A poem for Hastings

Editor’s note: Roger Sievers, a Hastings native, wrote this poem in light of recent events in Hastings:

Who’s life did you take when you took your own?

As a mother weeps the loss of her son, who can measure the life that has come and gone?

Will she find respite in her loved one’s care?

Who is there to fill the space in her heart once your life is no longer there?

To a young man who’s lost his friend, will he ever be the same before this life ends?

Will a hole forever remain in the place your life and friendship once retained?

Will the hurt of a young woman’s heart ever forgive the love that now tears her apart?

Will the love that was tore before it’s time ever heal the gap in her soul’s divide?

As a father sits torn apart, what could he have done to mend his child’s heart?

A piece of him withers and dies the day he buries his child under cold dark skies.

The one thing we all must know: What hurt so bad that you would bring all this pain back home?

The world is a little colder since you decided to go.

The colors are dimmer and some seeds won’t be sown.

God’s heart breaks to see this be.

His child, the one he loves, could not break free.

With loving arms and tears in his eyes, he welcomes you home.

He asks: Dear child, don’t you know whose life you took

when you took your own?

To all the broken hearts out there, my heart goes out to you. I can not offer anything but to share in your grief, I hope all of your hearts find respite in these tough times. My heart personally breaks as I remember growing up in Hastings and my generation going through many of the same tragedies.

Roger Sievers

Editor's note: Mr. Sievers an employee of Rivertown Multimedia, the same group to which the Star Gazette belongs.

Tags: letters to the editor, opinion, hastings, minnesota, spiral, local