Shattering Stillness

A gentle nudge, a murmuring rumbles,
That was heard in the distant,
A rocking motion, a grain of sand tumbles,
At the beginning of the dawn.

A patter of little feet running on the sand,
Peals of joy of children’s voices,
Early birds pecking at fish along the land
The sun rises swiftly without restraint.

Sleepy eyes, hardly opening to the morn glare,
Swimmers frolicking in the lazy waves,
Bells and minarets resounding calling for the flock to prayer,
While sleepers turned over to the other side.

In the shattering stillness, it hung suspended,
An ominous wall of water, all along the beach,
Wiping the sleep out of the eyes, disbelief apprehended
A frozen moment, a stifled cry, a voice lost.

A playful wave lapped over the shoreline,
More boisterous than ever experienced before
Then in a second breath, the next wave rose on time,
The sea retreated, then stood up tall.

The wall of water walked  in through the blue sky,
Unsuspecting humans, feet anchored with no where to run,
Swallowed up with the first wave, the next just meets the eye,
Once again flushed out to the horizon, never to be seen again.

The bright sunny day, with no signs of any storm or rain,
Suddenly was like a battlefield, scattered mayhem everywhere,
A placid calm, a house secure, in a flash nowhere to be seen
People having no time to stop to think what they need or not

A brother, a mother, a father, a friend, there was no difference
All were lost, but some were saved, scattered here and there
A Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, all looked up to God
All with the same prayer, with amazement at His Power.

Then as the crescendo violence of the wave resounded,
A silent stillness lashed out at the waters to be free,
Not a Noah’s bird or animal to be seen for miles around
Not a branch to cling to, not a standing tree.

Amidst the scattered flattened ruins,
A whimpering of a baby could be heard.
A coloured cloth that was once a bridal gown
Fluttered in the breeze, chasing the ripples out to sea.

As the waters covered the death that roared beneath the seas,
It was able to devour anything in its path as it rose from Hades,
Nothing in its path was spared, not a child, or man,
Spreading death across continents, and countries in a wink.

In an instant, time stood still, fallen clocks were stopped,
Man in all humbleness, realized that he is but a dot
Nature doesn’t pick and choose those she takes away
Every Nation felt some loss, some more than others.

Countless are homeless, children are orphaned,
Anxiety on those left behind, looking for a lost one,
Many are recovered out at sea, from the rooftops,
No distinction was made to help a fellow being.

Holy places, schools, standing buildings were used,
To huddle the injured, cold and lost, to love a human being,
Aid came instantaneous by the survivors, to pass a loaf around,
To hold fast to an outstretched hand struggling with the stream.

A week, another too, passes by and life starts to settle down,
The humdrum of the jostling countries, all trying to pitch in
Aid comes in abundance, but is still to reach the needy,
Some have not seen a fellow human being from the first wave.

Those whose lives were shattered, gather splinters of hope,
A tin of rice, an earthen pot, a pitcher of water,
Till the army of aid comes by, they have to remain afloat
Deep within the mined jungles, isolated on wave formed islands.

Looking for a new tomorrow, we salute those who went before us,
We salute those who survived, we salute those who have come to help
We salute the world for waking up without any borders
We look for a new tomorrow, for our fragile world in peace.

We ask those who help the children, to keep them safe and warm,
For many have spent their short lives in the midst of the storm,
Let us go on our knees, for we who are not afflicted and live
In comfort, to thank our Maker that we still breathe.

A Tribute in verse and prose to those who lost their lives in the Tsunami on 26th December 2004.

By Ronnie Johnson, 6th January, 2005.
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