Oh, Mother Mine

OH, MOTHER MINE

In the quiet of the morning,
While many people slept,
Silently, the earth it heaved
Oh, Mother mine, you wept.

From beneath the surface
Seeming so calm and firm,
Rocks grated against each other,
And tremors began to come.

The shaking traveled upwards,
And with a speed destroyed,
The sleeping peace of the earth,
As the ground began to slide.

At first, the people did not know,
Why the earth so shook?
When the shaking did not stop,
To their doorways began to run.

Some made it to the outside,
Before the house could fall.
Some remained trapped inside,
And were buried in the walls.

Ripples of the shaking spread,
Till more cities were rocked.
Every body felt nature’s ire,
Every one felt the shock.

When it finally did subsided,
A wailing could be heard.
Of mothers, looking for their young,
And fathers, for their sons.

They dug frantically, with their hands
Tearing at the walls,
Looking for a dear loved one,
Alive, beneath the fall.

The bodies of the crushed
Were removed, one by one,
Till the figures grew and grew
Of dead daughters and sons.

An eerie kind of silence
The earth now has underneath,
Not moving, still and serene,
Till once more, mother mine, she weeps.

Sujata

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