A Minute Silence Poem by Nancy Anyorkor AkoOdoi

My heart goes out to babies, who know nothing about this cruel world.

Who no matter how small, were the hope of a brighter tomorrow for their single mother.

Yet were not spared by this incidence, lets observe 10 seconds of silence.

Another 10 for that poor man, who was in a hurry to get home,

Just so his sick child could feed off the little he struggled to get, before he take his medicine

Yet could not make it home.

What about that young breadwinner?

The only graduate in a family of 10?

Who lost his life to this awful trend,

All in the haste to get home to inform his family that he finally got a job.

He sure deserves 10 seconds.

To all those drivers,

Who tried their best to get passengers safely to their destination,

Only to get home and find out that the destiny of his own family was no where near recognition.

I guess we could spare him just 10 seconds of our time.

10 seconds of silence, for Mothers, Fathers, Husbands, Wives,

Uncles, Aunties, Grandmothers, Grandfathers and Friends,

Who we exchanged pleasantries with, telling them we would see them soon

But now have been gutted by fire and lay unnoticeably burned to ashes amidst waste and scrap.

To virgin and disvirgined bodies, that were still kept in privacy

Only to be shown in the comfort of rooms, for the fear of showing off a few minor disabilities,

But now have gone viral all over social media,

And brings tears to the eyes because of it’s painfulness to behold,

Please permit another 10 seconds.

Lets observe a minute silence, to all departed souls,

Who lost their lives to this tragedy.

It could have been me, it could have been you………


June 4,2015, Sheridan Avenue, Bronx-New York