Questions with no answers
Oh Mother Earth - what pain you must have suffered to tear yourself apart,
Uncontrolled emotions bursting from your heart.
The children that you nurtured cannot understand the reason why.
We had no time to wonder but didn't want to die.
You sustained our lives in seasons both good and bad.
We asked for little, just to share your beauty and the fruits of your land.
Our towns were not rich when judged in material wealth.
But we were rich in our families' boundless love which gave us abundant health.
For this we were happy, if sometimes tired from toil.
Mothers, fathers and grandparents alike, had children who gave us hope and joy.
We brought them into your world with pain and ease.
They would need to be strong in hard times - that was something everyone knew.
We wished them a life that opened their eyes and the doors beyond town and farm.
As we grew older, we passed on our wisdom, hoping it would take root and flourish in their very soul.
We wanted them to be happy - that was our primary goal.
But the journey was halted in a moment which came far too soon.
None of us knew the pain and anguish from inside your bleeding womb.
With two minutes to half past two, your agony brought deafening sounds.
We see your scars, now you can see ours - what anguish, what sadness, a nation cries.
Three days of mourning give strength to a bond that no earthquake can break - do not think otherwise.
The pain, the wounds are terrible to endure, your waters have become our tears.
Whether they can ever dry, is something we will not know for years.
Our motherland and all those who inhabit your world share this unspeakable grief.
We accept you are too tired to give us answers in the search for our minds' relief.
We will rest with you, Mother Earth - peace and quiet is not far away.
It is the dear ones left behind who must face each new day.
Our bodies may be still but our spirits are not apart.
As we sleep in peace, we continue to live - deep within each heart!
Edwin Maher
(China Daily 05/27/2008 page20)
