Claudia May is the Director of Reconciliation Studies and an Associate Professor of Reconciliation Studies at Bethel University, St. Paul, Minnesota. She is also a spiritual director. She is a regular contributor to Patheos and the author of Jesus is Enough: Love, Hope, and Comfort in the Storms of Life. Dr. May is a passionate follower of Jesus, a woman of prayer, and a lover of biblical stories and wisdom. This poem is copyrighted by Claudia May. 

Heather is dead
On Saturday
Breath seeped from her body
Heather is dead
On Saturday
Her life found its way home
Heather is dead

Pumped with steroids of terror
A man armed with the weapons of many
A man driven by histories of hate
Shoves his foot into a pedal fueled by rage
Rams his car into an unarmed crowd
Reverses
Fast
And leaves Heather and others
For dead
For dead
For dead
Like rag dolls soaked in blood
They lie on cold concrete slabs
He leaves the injured and the maimed
Slumped and crumpled
On ground speckled
With fragments of human life

On Saturday
The masked and unmasked
Snatched the heartbeat of Heather
From our hands
Our hands
Our hands

Mobs robbed Heather
Of the gift of breath
They stole
Her life
Her life
Her life

A daughter is dead
A granddaughter is gone
A friend is dead
A colleague is gone
A relative is dead
A woman is gone
A human being is dead
Who will cry out from the wilderness?
Who will call Heather by name?

A Mama cries out
A Mama weeps

Susan Bro
The mother of Heather
Calls her daughter by name
She promises “to be the voice” Heather “can no longer be”1
So Susan Bro speaks with Heather
She channels the voice of her child
And embraces the truth
That “Heather’s passion
Extended to her ideas
Her thoughts”2
They find roots
In the histories of the despised
They blossom into action
Through the voices
And presence of diverse peoples
They breathe life
Cherish justice
Celebrate peace

In this unified voice
Susan Bro
Holds Heather
Hugs her
Laughs with her
Gazes at her “infectious smile”3
And sighs when she recalls
That Heather was not a morning person
Mama Susan chuckles when she remembers
The “ordeal of listening”4
That accompanied dinnertime meals
When her gloriously feisty, opinionated daughter
The daughter who came from a long line of strong women
Raised her voice
She knew her own mind
She knew her own self
She wore her own skin
She was the daughter that “was hard to raise
Because everything was a negotiation”5

Oh “she loved to talk”6
Heather also “paid attention”7
She “talked about anything that caught her eye
That she felt was fair, unfair”8
Mama and daughter listened
They learned to disagree
Again and Again
They learned to love
In the midst of their differences
They learned from one another

As Susan Bro lives through
The voice of her daughter
She debates with Heather
Nods when she thinks of her own father
Heather’s Grandfather
Who Heather used to call “GranGaDaddy”
Recalls that Heather
“Was a lady of happiness and great joy”9
And yet
And still “She could tell When somebody wasn’t being straight”10
As Heather’s voice lives in you
Yes you beloved Mama Susan Bro
You will cup the face of your daughter
Stroke the cheeks of your child
Again and Again and Again
Because the life of Heather counts

“We’re going to make it count”11

Hand in hand
Arm in arm
Our voices
Will protest
Just as ocean waves flow
Vessels of hate
Cannot shut down
That which refuses to shut up
Silenced is not Heather’s name
Silenced is not our name
Speak up is our name
Making a difference is our name
Changemakers is our name

Empathy guides us
Hope stands with us
Love is our name
Our voices speak truth
Heather’s “death”
Will “be a rallying cry
For justice
And equality
And fairness
And compassion”12

We will pursue the “achievable”
Even as many mock us
And deem our vision unachievable
“By golly” we will “go the extra mile”
We will “take that extra step”
We will “find” in our “heart
That small spark of accountability”13
And facedown injustice
We will “speak up”
We will be outraged
We will pay attention14
We will initiate difficult conversations
We will expose that “the word hate” is “real”15
And emphasize through our words and actions That “the word love” is “even stronger”16
We will “talk back”17
We will listen
To the perspective of another
Even when it is hard
Some of us will become childlike
And wave our hands
And dance when we talk
Just like Heather did when she was a child
Some of us will “curse like a sailor”18
We will learn to laugh together
We will live in the tension
Of joy and difference
We will acknowledge
That “We are going to have our differences
But let’s channel that anger
Not into hate
Not into violence
Not in fear . . .
But into righteous action”19

Wednesday
As she stands with her family and friends and allies and strangers
Heather’s Mama will lay her beloved daughter to rest
Alongside the multitude she wears purple
She walks with Heather
She speaks for Heather
She is “the voice” Heather “can no longer be”20

With one diverse voice
We, too, wear purple in our heart
And “magnify” 21
Love
Love
Love
And in that moment
Rainbows in candle lights flicker
The aroma of heather fills the air
While butterflies paint the sky with purple
And fly with the wind

© Claudia May, 2017

1 Rebecca Shapiro, “Heather Heyer’s Mom Has Powerful Message For Driver Who Killed Her Daughter.” Huffington Post, August 8, 2017. 2 The testimony of Heather’s father, Mark Heyer, delivered during Heather Heyer’s funeral service. Charlottesville’s Paramount Theater. Charlottesville, Virginia. August 16, 2017. 3 Heather’s cousin’s testimony delivered during Heather Heyer’s funeral service. Charlottesville’s Paramount Theater. Charlottesville, Virginia. August 16, 2017. 4 Excerpted from eulogy delivered by Susan Bro during the memorial service for her daughter Heather Heyer. Charlottesville’s Paramount Theater. Charlottesville, Virginia. August 16, 2017. 5 Ibid. 6 Ibid. 7 Ibid. 8 Ibid. 9 Testimony of Elwood Shrader, Heather’s Grandfather delivered during Heather Heyer’s funeral service. Charlottesville’s Paramount Theater. Charlottesville, Virginia. August 16, 2017. 10 The testimony of Heather’s father, Mark Heyer, delivered during Heather Heyer’s funeral service. Charlottesville’s Paramount Theater. Charlottesville, Virginia. August 16, 2017. Here he references an observation made by her grandfather. 11 Susan Bro, eulogy during funeral service. Charlottesville’s Paramount Theater. Charlottesville, Virginia. August 16, 2017. 12 Rebecca Shapiro, “Heather Heyer’s Mom Has Powerful Message For Driver Who Killed Her Daughter.” Huffington Post, August 8, 2017. 13 Quotes from the first section of this stanza excerpted from the eulogy delivered by Susan Bro during the memorial service for her daughter Heather Heyer. Charlottesville’s Paramount Theater. Charlottesville, Virginia. August 16, 2017. 14 Heather Heyer’s slogan “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention” posted as her cover photo on her Facebook page. 15 The testimony of co–‐worker Feda Khateeb–‐Wilson delivered on August 16, 2017 during the memorial service of Heather Heyer. Charlottesville’s Paramount Theater. Charlottesville, Virginia. August 16, 2017. 16 Ibid. 17 The testimony of Alfred A. Wilson delivered on August 16, 2017 during the memorial service of Heather Heyer. Wilson was Heather’s supervisor. Charlottesville’s Paramount Theater. Charlottesville, Virginia. August 16, 2017. 18 The testimony of co–‐worker Feda Khateeb-Wilson delivered on August 16, 2017 during the memorial service of Heather Heyer. Charlottesville’s Paramount Theater. Charlottesville, Virginia.