The Real Question

A thirteen-year-old boy 
who went to school
with my daughter
 
died this weekend. 
My first question 
when I heard 
 
was, How? How?
my mind 
scrambling to map 
 
the topography 
of this tragedy
to find a safer
 
trail forward for my children,
to map a way around 
what I fear the most. 
 
What I can’t even say out loud.
And so I asked this one 
answerable question, How?
 
knowing the real question
isn’t how did he die
but how do we keep going 
 
with that ravine always just 
beyond these trees
until it isn’t.