NEPHART.COM

Oh dear!

We had conquered all the fear
didn’t know today
we would have to live
in a pool of tears

something unknown
some strange force

just daily life
was going on

she was returning
from the market

our son
was getting home from school

we had planned
a lovely dinner

my two-storey house
built with all the sweat
and hard work

my neighbours
who used to wave at me
and ask how we were

are buried
deep under the sand

somewhere
lying

their souls in another world
their bodies scattered

my entire village
collapsing
swept away
by a merciless flood

my heart
inundated with pain

insomniac eyes

even when I doze off
I hear the voices

Dad, I’m back home

Dear,
I bought spinach
from the market
for cheap

even the sounds
that once irritated me
have started sounding sweet

and I keep looking
for their bodies

just one last time
I want to see them

I imagine

what if everything
was only a dream

what if nothing
had happened to us

nothing

just an avalanche of feelings
falling from the celestial sky

while somewhere beneath it all
I still wait
for the door to open

for my son to come home

for her to walk in
holding that bag of spinach

but no one comes

and I realise

the flood did not
only take my village

I am already dead
inside