Sorrowing Lies The Sea (Air Asia Crash Victims) Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

Every heart with hope,
every face with anticipation,
waiting to get there to hug and to hold
mothers, fathers, wives, children, friends;
every little joy that could bring on their delight.
Without care or caution they assembled,
looking at each other, strangers not knowing
that the end would be the same for all;
from various directions they clustered
together in hope of getting home,
some hoping it was just another journey;
but nay, that was not to be, not to be
in that moment of time, when life shuddered
intense panic stirred, rushing to be free…
how much they might have shouted,
how much they must have beseeched for God's Mercy,
how much they might have wailed,
only the clouds might have heard
the clouds that could not help or speak
and as into the waters sunk those lives
shattered hopes, bodies, and splintered dreams
how much must have not those minds numbed
how much might they have not remembered you
before their memories appeared amidst their screams
how many times must they have not called out your name
for they must have loved you and waited to meet you;
but nay, to the ocean they handed their souls
in that quietness of the night,
they silently stumbled into the coldness
where now sorrowing lies the sea.