Turkey - Syria Earthquakes - Pray For Survivors And For Courage To The Families Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

How could mother-earth be so uncompassionate
that it permitted earthquakes to destroy
so many buildings and apartments
which were the residences
of those innocent people
who lived in Turkey and Syria?

How could earthquakes themselves be so callous
that they triggered loss of lives and homes so instantly
without any prior notice or warnings?

How could the hour of horror strike such terror
that people just vanished under their own buildings
and apartments never to wake up again
or see the tomorrow?

How could innocent people ever expect time
to be so unsympathetic that as they slept,
the ground under their beds kept falling apart
and landing them beneath the debris
of their own apartments?

How could earthquakes keep recurring so mercilessly
that others who were alive also perished underground
like birds that keep falling from the skies into the deserts
when the hot sun burns their wings and vision?

How could God not visualize the effects
of earthquakes on a humanity which is so helpless
and ignorant of its occurrence or manifestation?

How could pleas of desperation and tears ever escape
the eyes of those who knew they were dying and
going down in the ground never to see the daylight again?

O' God, how could Thou not show mercy and prevent
the deaths and the destruction in Turkey and Syria,
for Thou has given this life and Thou has blessed this world
with this earth as a planet so full of benevolence,
and as a planet so promising of existence and survival?