Sad Tones After Haiyan Poem by Elizabeth Padillo Olesen

“ I am the only survivor in my family
I would just like to find out
if there is someone who is still alive”,
says the young lady with a hat on.

“ We are like infants here and
it is really very very difficult.
The shops and the warehouses
for food are emptied”, said the
sad girl with tears
trickling down her face.

The group of Filipinos in England
met in a room, and sang in chorus,
“Amazing Grace” and one of them
declared, ” They are suffering out there
in the Philippines but we are also suffering
here while looking at their own suffering.”

An older woman spoke before
the microphone, “I have lost everything
I would be happy if I could get even
just one blouse. “

A younger girl, called on her mother,
whom she could not find.
And out to the blue, she declared,
“Mother, I am alive, I just
need food, mother, please.”
And she cried.

A walking survivor was greeted
by a journalist, “Do you have something to say? ”
The man, without looking back, said,
“I am still on a deep shock”.