Indebtedness Upheld (Dedicated To The Firefighters Of Portugal) Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

When duty called, they rushed
knowing on the other side
was just one enemy called Forest fire
which was incinerating everything
in its path, with its rage;
many houses it had destroyed
many had died as they tried to escape
but in their very own cars they had perished
due to the fire scorching them.
Yet those firefighters without fear
of losing their own lives
dared to face those blazing flames
as with the water hoses they ran trying
to put off that incessant forest fire
which refused to stop
as it had no control over itself,
it had no ears to listen
even if one shouted aloud and asked it to stop.
People had started to flee
as the smoke was filling in their eyelids
lungs felt choked, life lost life
as they got burnt while attempting to escape.
Mothers kept praying
children kept waiting
for their fathers to return home
but they were the firefighters,
bravely they stood there amidst the danger
putting their own lives at risk
dedicating every attempt
to curb the forest fire from spreading further.
Those men in red jackets and safety helmets,
like angels never withdrew themselves
from their commitment of saving people,
of saving homes from devastation.
What reward can be greater to them
than a nation being so proud of them
that in such a catastrophic situation
they displayed a truly heroic attitude
by adhering to their responsibility
though the fire could have engulfed them
reducing them to ashes?
What greater satisfaction will those firefighters
not hold within their hearts of diligence
knowing that they did all this as duty
expecting nothing in return but conservation
of their land, their people, their serenity?