The Earth And I Shall Grieve For You (For Victims Of Japan's Earthquake 2016) . Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

Many angels can hold a heaven
many seas can roll the ocean
many houses can shelter families
many schools can teach the children
but only one God can save a devastation;
Unsuspecting, unassuming, they woke up
to find themselves, their houses, their children
getting crushed under rubble and debris.
No one knew, where was the other
no one could even gauge the grim reality
as it was there, over them or they were under it,
the rich, the poor all buried under their own roofs;
destruction had thrown its arrows in all directions
and shuddered their hopes of survival
as shattered were their homes of love
asunder were their hearts of unity;
no illusionist must have ever imagined such a fate
where the earth itself would play its game
as tremors kept repeating so constantly
hearts kept praying, despair kept aggravating
none wanted to believe, none wanted to die,
none expected the earth to devour them
when in earth's lap they had grown and lived
when this earth itself was their true friend;
how could cracks ruin their towns and cities
how could the earthquake flatten their shelter,
but when the giant earth loses its mercy
the force of men is incomparable to such mightiness
as the earth kept trembling every where
where could they run and hide to save themselves?
no miracles, no gods could stop or control
that invisible phenomena so intense, so unpredictable
as silenced souls had to succumb to death so un-opposingly
amidst their endless pleas for help and choking voices
that even the earth itself must have wept for its sense of betrayal.