In Memoriam: Columbine High School Shooting April 20, 1999
(Idea borrowed from Dylan’s “Who Killed Davey Moore?”)
Who killed Columbine High?
And what’s the reason why?
Not I, says the NRA, clutching its money
We didn’t sell those kids their guns
We didn’t tell them to shoot to kill:
It wasn’t us, it was just God’s will!
Who killed Columbine High?
And what’s the reason why?
Not I, says the Entertainment Industry,
We didn’t mean for anyone to die
We just provide lots of fun for the eye
All those killings aren’t really real, you see!
We didn’t tell them to bomb and kill:
It wasn’t us, don’t send us the bloody bill!
Who killed Columbine High?
And what’s the reason why?
Not I, says the Video Game Maker,
We make it look real to lure more takers
There isn’t any harm in body-parts debris
Bloody video games make you feel free!
It wasn’t us who made them play those video games,
It wasn’t us who helped them kill thirteen names!
Who killed Columbine High?
And what’s the reason why?
Not I, says Columbine School, we’re no fools,
Those boys were sick, their minds were weird
We tried to help them and textbook educate
A fact they were never able to appreciate:
It wasn’t us who made them feel inferior
Pushed them down or tested them superior!
Who killed Columbine High?
And what’s the reason why?
Not I, says the busy News Media, spinning around,
Chasing their ghosts and accidents all over town
Along with other tales of gloom and horrible doom
To create dark despair that leaves no room;
It wasn’t us who goaded them, lured them,
Jeered them, or mentally asphyxiated them!
Who killed Columbine High?
And what’s the reason why?
Not I, says the boys’ parents, looking surprised,
Why, we didn’t raise them to behave like killers
We didn’t even know
They were hoarding those bombs away
We thought they were still young boys
Eager to play
It wasn’t us who showed them how to load
Or said it was awesome
When blood from bodies flowed!
Who killed Columbine High?
And what’s the reason why?
Not I, says the Police Department,
We can’t predict who will kill and who will not,
It’s all we can do to catch the felon after he’s fled
(Unless while in flight from a wound he’s bled)
It wasn’t us who taught them an eye for an eye,
It wasn’t us who said, fancy guns go buy!
Who killed Columbine High?
And what’s the reason why?
Not I, says the People in America,
Going to work, sitting at home,
Working and laughing and playing;
It’s not our job to police all those kids
Across the land
It’s not our job to keep these guns
Out of their grubby little hands!
Who killed Columbine High?
And what’s the reason why?
Not I . . .
Says the NRA
The Entertainment Industry,
The Video Game Maker,
Columbine High School,
The Busy News Media,
The Boys’ Parents,
The Police Department,
The People in America.
Who killed Columbine High?
And what’s the reason why?
It was I, says the NRA,
For easy access to weapons
Sooner or later
Will always lead to a bloody day
It was I, says the Entertainment Industry,
For a teenager can only see
So much blood and gore
Before it seeps into the brain
And invites a whole lot more!
It was I, says the Video Game Maker,
Dealing in death
We make lots of money
One million quarters a minute
With violent images that take away
Life and breath while monetizing
Images of deaths most grisly
It was I, says Columbine High,
With head held low
The boys were here but their troubled souls
We could not reach–
We spent thousands on books
But two boys we failed to teach.
It was I, says the busy News Media,
We peddle in death,
We give bloody murder
A whole lot of attention
For memory’s power of retention
Is aided by constant repetition
We give them all a name
These carnages, accidents,
And senseless slaughters;
We make of life and death
A bad joke and challenge
A kind of headliners’ game!
It was us, says the Boy’s Parents,
We are to blame–
We had killers in the house
And were blind as could be;
If we had searched our sons’ rooms
The thirteen dead might still be free.
It was I, says the Police Department,
Hanging their heads,
We should have known sooner
And should have done more;
We scolded them slightly
And punished them lightly!
It was I, says the People in America,
Beginning to cry
For our dear ones and dead ones
Screaming from Columbine High–
For all of those others listed above
Are merely reflections of us!
It was I, says the People in America,
This society we live in together
Is our home and our mirror
So check off “all of the above”
In their mighty multitudes of names
In all their many forms and games
For all of them are really us
As we are really all of them.
We failed as a people, as a nation, and a tribe;
We failed as an idea, a principle, and a creed;
We failed as a philosophy, a morality, and a thought;
We failed as a family, as relatives and friends;
We failed as human beings
We failed as individuals
We failed as fellow creatures
To create the necessary features
To prevent this awful tragedy!
We were gullible and fallible and foolish,
While we thought ourselves courageous,
Honest and brave;
We were vainglorious
In the midst
Of a single great tragedy!
We failed to make America safe
For ourselves and our Posterity
And we found out (too late)
That we really don’t know a thing
About the blood in our young people’s veins
When the pain begins to sing;
We found out we really don’t know
Our own reasons for failing at all–
Only that it’s time for “reassessment”
While we trembled witnessing the fall.
Who killed Columbine High?
And what’s the reason why?
Roger Rosenberg
May 2, 1999 2
