Now the sky carries a weight of grief,
fragile prayers hang in the humid air,
the headlines, chanting their dark hymn.
New Orleans wears sorrow like a cloak,
its streets filled with whispered anguish.
Fifteen lives cut short, thirty five waiting.
Candles flicker on windowsills tonight,
hands clasped together, prayers rising,
hoping they will reach the ceiling, escape.
City of jazz and vivid celebrations,
now holds its breath in collective pain.
Unanswered questions fill the spaces.
The river still flows, slow and solemn,
as if carrying memory\'s heavy burden,
mourning with each passing wave.
We speak their names into the silence,
as if words could stitch their absence.
The world, one heartbeat heavier now.
In this darkness, may light find a way,
may the wounded heal, the grieving rest,
in a city more resilient than its pain.