70. Anyone Know How I Feel?

by David
(Note: this poem was inspired by the heartbreaking photograph below from the Los Angeles Times showing a young boy surrounded by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.)


A child sits atop a roof
No one else in sight
And wonders where his parents went
(When the storm subsided)
In total fright
Debris nipping at his heels

He puts his mind in his hand
Atop an elbow resting on a knee
Such weights upon a little man
Teddy bear lain at his feet
Asking himself, "Why me?!"
And, "Has the storm gone away?"

The rubble around him
Screams out at his solitude
His mind overwhelmed
Wishing it were all a dream
But sight attests the magnitude
Of his LOSSES, and the losses

Even a voice would sooth
However distant away
Could it be they're gone forever
Carried away by the wind
So many things needed to say
With no one there, to listen

"I'm hungry, now, I think"
But where's his food
In all this mess?
Who'd bless it for a meal?
"No matter, I've lost the mood"
"Does anyone know how I feel?"

Hellicane category: SURVIVORS' Tales