Tsunami Poem by Frank Halliwell

Far down below the sunlit waves
Stresses accumulate,
And thousands up above shall know
The fickle hand of fate!

Down in the depths the menace grows,
Unseen disaster nears.
The pressure has been building here
For near two hundred years.

Then turmoil in the ocean depths
Beneath the tranquil skies.
A dozen miles of sea floor heaves
Forcing the sea to rise.

The friendly sea, the bounteous sea
Awakened from her sleep,
Has now become a fearsome
Monster rising from the deep!

The giant wave spreads outward in
An ever wider path
Across the miles toward distant lands
To vent its deadly wrath.

They saw the line of foam approach!
Perhaps some kind of tide?
No time is left to stand and stare,
It's time to run and hide.

But on the shore the people watched
This curious event,
Still unconcerned and unaware
Of what the strange wave meant.

Until it rose up from the sea
And grew to awesome height!
The peril realized at last
And changed from awe to fright.

But too late now to get away
For most their life was through,
And untold thousands swept away
With all their retinue.

The pain in time will pass away
But memories shall recall,
As history records the day
Tsunami came to call.