She Could Have Said No
She Could Have Said No
On the day of April 20, 1999,
Gunshots filled the halls of peaceful Columbine.
Two kids with trench coats, armed with hate,
Came bursting in, to decide everyone’s fate.
In the end there was found, thirteen people dead,
Among them was Cassie Bernall, shot in the head.
The killer had asked her a question, pointed his gun and given her a nod.
He asked her solemnly and maliciously, “Do you believe in God?”
She looked at him back, gave a truthful answer, without second thought.
“Yes,” she replied, “I do” and then in the pull of a trigger, she was shot.
When I walk the streets late at night,
I start to wonder if what Cassie Bernall said was right.
She could have said no, made it easy to bear.
Could have said no, but instead it ended in despair.
But she didn’t say it, never admitted defeat.
She accepted God into her heart, but in the end she was beat
Is this what happens when you say what you truly believe?
Do you get shot at every time you put your heart out on your sleeve?
The saddest thing about this, if I myself was put to the test,
I would have betrayed my Lord. I would have said no instead of yes.
—Mark Lenig
January 2001
