Rescued Chile Miners, A Miracle Of Faith Poem by Elizabeth Padillo Olesen

From August 5 to October 13
in the year of our Lord 2010
69 days you were held in prison
down deep in earth's dungeon.

69 days of stolen rays of
the sun and stolen valleys of rest
33 miners you were buried alive
in earth's seven hundred meters-deep.

Who could have imagined
finding you alive and still
with your spirits up high?

Who could have imagined
that the tears of your loved ones
and those of your countrymen
could be changed to the cymbals
of dancing and rejoicing?

But yes, on the ground where
you were buried alive, you raised
your eyes to your Mighty Creator
And in the camping sites
of your loved ones, persistent prayers
were raised to the heavenly door.

And among your politicians
and engineered men and women
a solidarity plan to rescue you were
conceived in sleepless days and nights.

Here is your story, Chileans,
a miracle of faith in our time!
And the world claps her hands
because the weeping is changed into
an overflow of tears of rejoicing
on this great mountain of joy.