Unpreventable Still

When I heard on the news this week the claim, that the terrible shootings in Georgia and in Colorado were “unpreventable” –that was it.  The straw that broke the camel’s back.

So many lives, needlessly lost–haven’t we had enough of that with COVID?  I suppose COVID was unpreventable as well.

I couldn’t help but feel, that one should not be able to make the claim, that something is unpreventable, if one has done next to nothing, to try to prevent it.

I wonder if I was alone in my reaction.   When I heard the word “unpreventable,”, all I could think of was the golden oldie song by Irving Gordon, “Unforgettable” (here sung beautifully by Nat King Cole.)  The song was so much on my mind, that I wrote new lyrics for this solemn occasion, which more or less fit the tune.

May this be the last time we hear such nonsense from our public officials!

It is with regret for all the loss of life, that I present this most un-funny parody:

Unpreventable

Skies blue or gray

Unpreventable

Or so they say

Though the mode is

Reprehensible

And inaction

Indefensible

Such an act is

Unpreventable,

Still.

Unpreventable

Not at a school

Unpreventable

No rhyme, no rule

Some madman can

Be the toast of the

Town, so famous,

Going postal,

Around these parts, its

Unpreventable,

Still.

Unpreventable

On down the years

Unpreventable

Who’ll count the tears?

At a concert

Going for a drink

In a grocery

Do you really think

All these deaths are

Unpreventable,

Still?

Copyright 2021 Andrea LeDew

(Parody of “Unforgettable” by Irving Gordon.)

For more on the tragedy of gun violence, see River of Grass.

For an encouraging poem for advocates, pursuing worthy causes, read The Yoke.