This poem was inspired by a heart-rending, inspiring photo someone posted the other day on my Facebook page. My wife and I watched the tsunami as it washed over Japan's northeastern seaboard. Though unspeakably tragic, there is both poignancy and heroism in its aftermath. This is just one of them.  

 

Mother, Son



They found her 

in the ruins of her house,

buried 

under a mountain of debris.


Lying semi-face down,

one leg slightly cocked,

one arm stretched out,

her rescuers


hoped she might still be alive.

Carefully lifting off the rubble,

they touch her cold body.

Lifting her up they find,


wrapped in a blanket,

the still sleeping form

of her infant son. Nearby

is a cell-phone, and


on it, a message. 

“If, when you find us, he is

still alive, please tell him

later that his mother loved him.”


                28 January, 2012