Remembering Sendai

last night the waves came
crashing in breaking through the gates
running in and out of the cooking places
collecting the firewood from the hearths
turning sleeping places into swimming pools
and where once stood Dad’s radiogram
is now the assembly of the eternal hum of angry waves

we watched the waves come in last night
we saw their anger dispensed at our doorsteps
we heard the weeping the sobbing
the deep and low moans
and wondered mournfully why God deserted us
Amina lost the trinkets
the only memory of her Grandma
Angelina stood outside her compound
shivering from the cold with her hands on her breasts
where can she find her children
where once we called home
and tendered the goats and fowls of Grandpa
we have lost to the angry water of cruel waves

the waves came in last night
it took away our joy forever
yet when we looked at the sky so blue
the sun shining so bright
and wondered mournfully
why the long blades of grass beneath our feet
sway in the bumpy breeze
dancing in rhythms with so much ease
while we shiver in the cold
weeping and sobbing
in deep and low moans
when the waves came last night