Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Boston Marathon Bombing.

I

Her sneakers slapped the pavement

as the cheers drew closer and closer.

She took a left on Boylston,

her heart beating as fast as her feet.

The finish line was just in reach,

But then came an explosion-

II

He waited eagerly along the finish line,

tippy toes and all.

Waiting to see his dad run by.

The bombs went off before that though,

and the little boy never saw his father

finish the marathon.

III

He broke the ribbon,

claiming first place.

That joy was short lived,

for a little while later

Life as he knew it shattered into a million pieces.

IV

Another Marathon Monday,

another day of chaos.

Though this much chaos the officer did not expect,

until the bomb went off,

and all hell broke loose in Beantown.

V

For the tenth year in a row

she came to watch her best friend run.

For the last time

she watched while standing on two feet.

Before her friend made it to the finish,

her right leg was blown off.

All that was left was a bloody stump.

VI

They stood behind a table

handing cups of water to runners

as they raced by.

Soon, the fleet of runners abruptly ceased-

The marathon was stopped

because of a terrorist attack.

VII

She sat upon her daddy’s shoulders

like a bird at its perch,

waiting to see her mommy run by.

She excitedly waved to mommy,

and then boom-

She couldn’t find mommy,

who was somewhere in the crowd of people,

screaming, crying, confused.

VIII

He couldn’t do it.

He couldn’t help everybody.

Twenty two years on the force,

and nothing like this had ever happened before.

A terrorist attack in his beloved city.

It shook him to the core-

IX

She finished the marathon

with her best time yet.

Overjoyed, she set off towards the crowds

to look for her fiance.

Simultaneously, they reached out to embrace,

just as the backpack laying a few feet away

exploded with no warning.

Their lives would never be the same again.

X

Boylston Street was a sea of runners,

as it always was this day.

He would soon realize

today was not like every other Marathon Monday.

A lone wolf escaped the crowd of onlookers,

and then something exploded amidst the crowd.

XI

The call she would never forget.

There was a bombing at the finish line,

motives thought to be terrorism.

The screams of agony,

the blood, the limbs.

The shock, the confusion,

the lifeless body of a little boy.

XII

The news alert popped up on my mom’s phone;

A bomb exploded at the marathon.

We did not yet know

it was much more than a bomb.

Nobody in the mall did.

I never imagined it would happen here,

but isn’t that what everyone always thinks?

XIII

I didn’t want to do it.

Tamerlan left me no choice.

And now, I must pay.