Catherine V.

In all likelihood, I am a distant relative to Catherine V. Hubbard who was murdered in the Sandy Creek Elementary School Shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Even if I’m not, there is a connection, if only as a matter of the heart. With that in mind, I wrote this poem.

David M. Barbour, 2013.

Her name was Hubbard—
Catherine V.
A distant cousin I suspect—
A Hubbard line is in my tree.
Two-hundred years—if I’m correct.

I want to feel connected to,
That precious little girl.
If not I wonder who I am—
Who’ll bear her  crimson stain?
To help assure her tragic loss
Won’t happen once again.

Her name was Hubbard—
Catherine V.
Six years old—
Red hair ablaze—
I met her now—
I saw her smile—
Her death is now inveighed.

How much more the rising tide?
How deep, our deepest sleep?
When we awake to hear the cries
Of mothers, fathers in their grief.

Her name was Hubbard—
Catherine V.
A distant cousin I suspect.
But if not—fine;
I still can feel—
Her heart as mine
On that I will reflect.