Aftershock - Wenchuan Earthquake 2008

I wrote these poems for the monthly province-wide magazine and weekly newspaper where I am Chief Editor and Lead Writer. Please give generously to the people of the region.

You Lived in Innocence

From your first breath to your last
You lived in innocence
Each of your days were a blessing
The small prints you left in eternity's dust are jewels
Sparkling, wondrous treasures
You lived in innocence
Your final heartbeats
Your last breaths
Will be all around us each moment we live
But we must release the grim images of your final moments
The dismal weight of those petrifying instants is too much to bear
We who live
Hear your innocent laughter in the birds' song
Catch your breath in the gentle evening breeze
The softness of your lovely hair
The sweet touch of your gentle hands
Touch us from the shadows of the unknowable
Your mothers and fathers are our sisters and brothers now
In your death you have become the sons and daughter of us all
We who live
Remember
You lived in innocence
Each of your days

(Second Poem)

2:28

It is now 2:28
My heart aches in sympathetic vibration
Thoughts crumble beneath the weight of the moment
Over the distant horizon
A mother weeps, softly to herself
As she folds her lost daughter's dresses
A father stares into the gray distance
Desperate for a moment of clarity
A couple hold hands in a dark tent
Looking at their final family photo
And smile at their son's crooked grin
A teacher places flowers at her shattered classroom door
It is 2:28
From Hangzhou our thoughts are with you all

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Wenchuan
• Sichuan
• Earthquake
• 2008
• China

[wildmumu]

very touching