Tuesday Poem: Commemorating February 22nd 2011—“This Will Be Us””
This Will Be Us
This will be us, one day —
faded photographs
for archivists and future
generations to pore over,
speculating on how
we must have felt, what
it must have been like …
… being lowered
from a high building
on ropes, or having one foot
amputated in situ
by a policeman to free
the rest of the body
from the rubble
of a collapsed building.
.
Or perhaps these historians
yet to come may stare
at footage of suburbs flooded
by silt and sewerage
after groundwater was forced
up by the shock waves
and mains burst
everywhere; all the bridges
between Cathedral Square
and the sea closed,
bar one, and holes
opening in roads —
large enough
to swallow SUVs.
.
Or will those to come
pause instead over photos
of the student volunteers,
shovels in hand
as they move en masse
to dig out half a city,
dust whipping up
into a grit storm
around them … And yet,
how could that future
observer feel more
than a passing wonder,
a flash of empathy …
.
… any more than we do now
when looking at old records
of past disasters:
the great pandemic, say,
that followed World War 1,
or the Wahine storm —
and only fleetingly imagine
the reality that these people —
flickers on a newsreel,
stills in a frame —
experienced, lived through,
endured.
.
© Helen Lowe, 2011
.
This poem is dedicated to the police and rescue services, and to the Student Volunteer Army, the Farm-y Army, and all the other volunteers who picked up whatever they had and “did for others”* after each of the major earthquakes of September 4, 2010, February 22, June 13, and December 23, 2011 in Christchurch.
.
* from Forever Young, by Bob Dylan
” … may you always do for others
and let others do for you …”
—
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Beautiful 🙂
It’s hard to imagine that one day my grandkids will be telling their grandkids about how they were born during the big quakes, and that other kids will be learning about all of this in their history lessons.
Thanks, Wen. And yes, given that this is NZ’s largest disaster in its modern (ie post 1840) history of human settlement, I think it will likely be in the history books. But as we now know, this stuff is never ‘real’ until you expereince it for yourself–so now when I hear about other earthquakes in the world, I don’t just say “oh that’s terrible”, I really feel the “Gods! Poor b#gg@rs!” in my gut.
Oh, that’s so true. I think I understand all kinds of disaster more now than I ever have. I think it’s an awful lot easier to place yourself in others’ shoes, even for very different disasters, when you’ve been through something like this. I guess the distance between is not so great, anymore.
I love this. Thankyou as always…
Thank you, Mary.
Love it.. thanks Helen
Robin
Robin, You are very welcome.
Hi Helen,
I’m sure that future generations will read your poem and begin to understand
Thankyou Helen
Amen. Thanks Helen.
Wonderful.
Helen Mck, Keith, Orchid–thank you for commenting. I am grateful if my poem ‘speaks’ something of these events to others, even if only in a small way.
That’s a great poem, Helen, and a most appropriate dedication.
Thank you, Tim—I’m feeling it all a bit today, I must admit.
Well done, Helen. Well done. 🙂
Thank you, Paul.