Why Did They Not Move? Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

'I thought you said all of you were together? '

We were.
Years ago we thought we knew one another.

'Well...
Can you explain to me,
Why you and the others survived this incident...
Unscathed for the most part.
And some did not make it?
They appear to be lost...
Babbling about how things used to be,
In complete darkness.
They seem to be tranced!
Trapped inside some illusion! '

I told them.
It was no mystery what was happening.
I told them that 'truck' was coming,
To dump major trash on them!

'Why did they not move?
They are now at the bottom of that cesspool.'

I was told they did not like my tone of voice...
Nor my attitude!
Many of us got out of the way.
It still affected us.
We prepared to get splashed,
By some of the trash!
But those folks stood there...
Accepting all that garbage!
And no one can tell them,
That's what it is!
They refuse to see it.

'And the sad thing about it...
They are shouting for it to be changed.
But into what? '

That is why we are standing here.
Praying for a miracle.
Some of us have family and friends mixed up,
In that mess.
They shout for a return to relive yesterday.
Some of them have repeated visions,
Of going back 'home'.
Hypnotized by some 'The Land of Oz'!
And we have tried to tell them,
That place does not exist!
And they persist in their own demise.