For Skylar

Sometimes when I go to Zebulon, I put flowers on a grave

Not of a departed family member but a little boy we could not save.

The call was on a Sunday evening I was sitting down to eat

The pager went off, and as usual I got quickly to my feet.

The words I heard the dispatcher speak filled me first with a mother's fear

"Vehicle in the water, Children trapped" words no firefighter wants to hear.

To the station and in the truck Chief Pete driving us to the scene

We talked about what we'd need to do, Truelove and me, Mulhollem and Green.

We got the word while still enroute one child is out of the car

Then car 16 gave the grim news, "Bystanders are doing CPR".

You can actually run with all that gear and never even notice the load

When citizens are trying to save a child lying still and wet by the side of the road.

I never saw the rest of the scene just a small boy with eyes so blue

We went to work to save a life but somehow, inside, we knew.

"Paramedics down to First Responder we had the knowledge and the skill

I did compression, they did the airway and lines but the cold wet little boy lay still.

I prayed as I'm sure everyone did for some miracle from above

Four women in an ambulance working so hard but we couldn't save him with Skill or love.

The little girl was freed by Bunn we hoped she'd be okay

They got a pulse enroute to the ER but she only lived a few days.

They will never play here, or throw ball, never ride a bike or drive a car

But how can our heart be sad knowing they're playing where the angels are.

Some calls are harder than others, worst is children we cannot save

So sometimes when I go to Zebulon, I put flowers on the grave.

- Written by M. T. Creech -