FIVE BY LYN LIFSHIN


LETTER DAYS AFTER THE TSUNAMI


the last few days
everything was in
chaos. When I close
my eyes, I see dead
bodies. When I open
my eyes I see dead
bodies. Each of us
must work 20 hours
a day. I wish there
were 48 hours in the
day so we could
help rescue folks.
We are without
water, electricity
and food. We barely
manage to move
refugees before there
are orders to move
them somewhere else


 ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~ 


UNDER A CRYING SKY

 
The field near the
old graveyard, a
field of gaping holes,
some so wide they
were pits large
enough to hold
3 or more bodies
from one family. All
morning volunteers
and soldiers dug
wet stony ground. By
late morning, the
funeral processions
were arriving. Under
a dark sky of rain,
the men carrying
coffins could barely
walk in the mud
and muck. Wailing
women, sounds
of grief from different
parts of the cemetery
blended. Then the
grieving touched
the corpse one last
time, a final faint
touch or a grasp
that didn't want
to let go

    
  ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~ 


UNDER A CRYING SKY

at 2:30 pm, 14 coffins
came at one time. Some
victims visible until
these last minutes,
a woman with red hair
brushed back, parted
over her blackening face.
A young man in a Sunday
suit, a shrouded child.
A six year old first
grader in an open coffin,
her body veiled inlace and on top of her
legs, her pink teddy bear


 ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~  
 

THEN THE COFFINS WERE SHUTTERED

 
with final haunting
bangs before they
were placed in red
bricked holes. Pieces
of concrete were
lowered on top
before dirt was
shoveled into the
hole by young men,
rain streaming
down their faces


 ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~ 


WHEN THE SKY WON'T STOP CRYING

in some graves,
three members of
a family buried side
by side, so large
a dump truck had
to back up to the
hole and tip the
load of dirt on
the coffins. "It is
our blood," one
grave digger said,
"yes the sky
is crying."