Jun 2018
Too shocked for words,......
A scream.... Blank.
Under. Murky brown? Pitch black?
Nothing.
A hand.... Water? Tonnes..... Waves..
Slamming into me..... Drowning...
Breathing? Gone?
Nothing.
A hand... Two....
Drowning....
Confusion. Screams. Terror.
It was all too much. Waves....
Too strong, The water was too strong.
She was gone .... going....
We couldn’t get her out
Two hands. Not enough.
Have we lost her?
Gulp.
Water beating against me.
Two hands? Six?
Air squeezed out of my lungs.
Pitch black.
Stay strong.
Terror...
Air. Light. Life?
Dazed. Shocked. Petrified.
Breathing.
Sprained ankle? Twisted leg?
Who cares,
I’m Alive!
Weak, but breathing.
Shocked. Tears of shock.
A dream?
No, the feeling’s still there.
Still wet. Had I let go?
Alive. And breathing.
But,
Had I let go?
A scream.... Blank.
Under. Murky brown? Pitch black?
Nothing.
A hand.... Water? Tonnes..... Waves..
Slamming into me..... Drowning...
Breathing? Gone?
Nothing.
A hand... Two....
Drowning....
Confusion. Screams. Terror.
It was all too much. Waves....
Too strong, The water was too strong.
She was gone .... going....
We couldn’t get her out
Two hands. Not enough.
Have we lost her?
Gulp.
Water beating against me.
Two hands? Six?
Air squeezed out of my lungs.
Pitch black.
Stay strong.
Terror...
Air. Light. Life?
Dazed. Shocked. Petrified.
Breathing.
Sprained ankle? Twisted leg?
Who cares,
I’m Alive!
Weak, but breathing.
Shocked. Tears of shock.
A dream?
No, the feeling’s still there.
Still wet. Had I let go?
Alive. And breathing.
But,
Had I let go?
27.02.2018
Trying to capture the horror of a traumatic incident that I experienced first hand.
An 11 year old girl, was drowning, believe it or not, in a drainage, because it was raining heavily and the drainage was overflowing, and then she went under the drainage cover with the only part of her out was her hands which her friend and I were holding. But we couldn’t pull her out because of the force of the water. We thought she’d drown, she was completely under sewage water. Luckily, parents came by and pulled off the drainage cover and pulled her out of the water, head first. This sort of thing can easily happen in Sri Lanka because we have heavy rainy seasons and incompletely covered drainage lining the streets.
The authorities refused to do anything about the open drainage in front of our school, which is where this happened. They even said “We cannot do anything even if a child DIES”. Which, to us, as the children they speak of, can be very traumatic.
I was shocked for days, and that’s when I decided to write a poem.
Trying to capture the horror of a traumatic incident that I experienced first hand.
An 11 year old girl, was drowning, believe it or not, in a drainage, because it was raining heavily and the drainage was overflowing, and then she went under the drainage cover with the only part of her out was her hands which her friend and I were holding. But we couldn’t pull her out because of the force of the water. We thought she’d drown, she was completely under sewage water. Luckily, parents came by and pulled off the drainage cover and pulled her out of the water, head first. This sort of thing can easily happen in Sri Lanka because we have heavy rainy seasons and incompletely covered drainage lining the streets.
The authorities refused to do anything about the open drainage in front of our school, which is where this happened. They even said “We cannot do anything even if a child DIES”. Which, to us, as the children they speak of, can be very traumatic.
I was shocked for days, and that’s when I decided to write a poem.
