It was only one hour
ago,
It was all so different then.
Nothing yet has really
sunk in;
Looks like it always did.
It was raining.
The warm spring water washed down over Tokyo: sliding down the shallow sloping roof tops, running in little streams over the rough grey asphalt streets, trickling its way through gutters. It soaked up the dirt and grime that had coated the city, washing away all the filth and memories, leaving the city fresh and clean. It soaked into the ruined collapsed buildings, finding small corners and pockets to puddle up in, soaking into the scattered possessions and shattered belongings that lay hidden and forgotten in those destroyed depths. It cleaned the city, washing away all the pain and the sadness, soaking into the warm brown dirt of the freshly dug graved, mixing in with the warm salty tears, washing away the dried left over blood, leaving everything clean and fresh and new.
It had been a week since the earthquake. A week since thousands of tall proud busy buildings had collapsed into rubble and unsettled dust, a week since thousands of warm living breathing people collapsed into cold motionless corpse, a week since a small out of the way well house had collapsed into a pile of useless unsalvageable…emptiness. A week since everything had changed….Everything… and everyone.
This flesh and
bone
It's just the way that we are tied in
But there's no one
home
People turned into bodies. Bodies turned into caskets. Caskets turned into gravestones.
Funeral after funeral, one long black procession after another, groups of tear eyed mourners greeting each other in cemeteries, nodding sadly to each other, strangers hugging strangers, words of comfort said and resaid like mantras. No one was buried alone, strangers stepping forward from the shadows to fill the place of family when no one was left to step forward…. But end everyone was buried, and the lists streached on and on and on….
I grieve...
for
you
You leave...
Me
She had been found in the well house, bleeding and broken under the weight of the fallen stones. Even unconscious her fingers had twitched towards the well, searching for the dark empty space that no longer existed, that lay hidden and buried beneath fallen rocks and broken beams.
"Inu…." Was the last thing she said, days later when they removed her from the well, pulling her out of the darkness she had laid for so long, pulling her away from the well she had fought so hard to reach. Had they come earlier, she may have fought them, struggled to remain in the darkness, in the shadows, struggled to get to the well… but she had long ago lost the will to fight, given up hope and faded into to the darkness.
The well was closed.
So hard to move on
Still loving what's gone
Said life carries on...
Carries
on and on and on...
And on
The news that truly
shocks
is the empty, empty page
While the final rattle rocks
Its empty, empty cage...
And I can't handle
this
I grieve...
For you
You leave...
Me
