Underneath The Rubble
by Umiemah Farrukh
Underneath the rubble
he cried out for his mother
Somewhere between
this world and the hereafter
Is where he’d find her next
Underneath the rubble
a key, a dress, a wedding picture
buried deep in the sand.
How was her life this easily swept away
when the earth decided to tremble?
Underneath the rubble
lay twelve of the people
this man still loved,
he used to call them family
Now the only thing on his tongue
was the funeral prayer
Underneath the rubble
they thanked God, faith rose
above what could’ve been fear
But the rest of us failed them,
we let go of what God instructed.
Where were the powerful and the wealthy,
when Syria and Turkey fell to their knees?
Where were we,
when we should’ve been helping them
out from underneath the rubble