Trembling
Pitch dark
After concrete thunder.
Guessed what it was
Spitting out dust
In deafening silence -
Something heavy
Clamping my left foot.
Supine in blackness
Fingertips touching the void
Shouting “Help!” then waiting
Bawling “Help!” again...
Nothing.
Nobody comes.
Time collapses.
Dozing then sleeping,
Sleeping then dozing.
Waking to dread.
Everything unchanged -
Inky and noiseless.
Left foot pulsing
To thoughts of water
Cool cascades
And wailing “Help!” once more -
Aching for tiny sounds of rescue
When only
After concrete thunder.
Guessed what it was
Spitting out dust
In deafening silence -
Something heavy
Clamping my left foot.
Supine in blackness
Fingertips touching the void
Shouting “Help!” then waiting
Bawling “Help!” again...
Nothing.
Nobody comes.
Time collapses.
Dozing then sleeping,
Sleeping then dozing.
Waking to dread.
Everything unchanged -
Inky and noiseless.
Left foot pulsing
To thoughts of water
Cool cascades
And wailing “Help!” once more -
Aching for tiny sounds of rescue
When only
This hollow silence
Remains.
⦿
Please consider donating to the Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal. Here in Great Britain go to The Disasters Emergency Committee to donate. Citizens of other countries can easily find suitable charity sites online. If we all do a little to help, we can build a mountain of money to assist the desperate people left behind.
I was surprised at the number of people they are still rescuing alive after so many days buried in ruble. Your poem expresses it well, Neil.
ReplyDeleteI tried my best to imagine that situation - trapped in a pile of rubble with no chance of rescue. For every lucky person who got out, a hundred others didn't.
DeleteYou made me cry. What a heartbreaking poem.
ReplyDeleteWhat do people think about in such a situation? Maybe they replay happy memories and also regrets. The things they should have said and done.
DeleteA heart-wrenching poem. I hurt every time I see something like this earthquake on the TV news, knowing there is nothing I can do.
ReplyDeleteAll we can do is to give a little. Even $10AUS would help the survivors.
DeleteConcrete thunder says it all. Terrible and terrifying.
ReplyDeleteI doubt that there will ever be a significant earthquake in West Cork.
DeleteGoogle Barley Cove beach YP. That was formed from the Lisbon Tsunami/earthquake. Unbelievable but true!
DeleteToo sad to contemplate. And yet there is no answer to natural disaster. I donated to the White Helmets in Syria because they are in a more difficult situation than Turkey, though I believe supplies are now getting through.
ReplyDeleteGood but I wouldn't know how to donate to The White Helmets.
DeleteWe gave via Oxfam, which has a Turkey/Syria earthquake appeal.
ReplyDeleteGood. I have now removed you and Dave from my hit list.
DeleteI'm a bit claustrophobic as I am a restless soul. I need to move and to be able to leave any tight spaces easily. I'm not sure I could mentally withstand a week trapped in rubble, never mind the physical challenges.
ReplyDeleteI am the same. I hate confined spaces.
DeleteI donate through Medicins sans Frontieres. They do good work. An old girlfriend of mine died in the earthquake in L'Aquila Italy in 2009. It must have been terrible for her. This current crisis has brought it all back.
ReplyDeleteMedicins sans Frontieres do fantastic work in challenging circumstances and deserve all the support they get.
DeleteThoughtful poem, brother. The whole situation is almost too sad and heartbreaking to contemplate. The fact that, at least up until yesterday, they are still able to find alive people in all the rubble of the destruction is just unbelievable, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteThe enormity of the help that will be needed and the funds that it will take to make a life again in Syria and Turkey for those thousands displaced and hurting mentally as well as physically is almost unimaginable! I hope the kindhearted of every nation will give until it hurts for our brothers and sisters in such need.
I donated to the Red Cross. I've read it does a good job of making the most of donated dollars.
ReplyDeleteI felt every line of your poem. As horrifying as being buried must be, I can't bare to imagine the pain of surviving parents who managed to escape the collapse.
Yes, a heart-breaking poem YP. I hope that none of us ever have to suffer such a horrific experience. The sheer numbers are staggering - how on earth will the survivors live with such terrible memories.
ReplyDeleteI donated about a week ago. I cannot imagine what it must be like to be entombed under all that rubble, when time has no meaning and a minute seems like eternity. How people have managed to survive for many days with no food or water mystifies me. It puts all out woes into perspective.
ReplyDelete