Have you ever heard it?
Felt it?
Lived through
IT?
***
I’m one of the lucky ones
a roaring train shook my country
rocked it to its core
not like the gentle sway of my crib
we no longer have a shore
***
Endless days
sleepless nights
don’t close your eyes
someone else may be gone
oh the pain at first light
***
stop the shaking
please things are breaking
mama’s dishes
papa’s bones
stop the shaking
Please
our
home
is
GONE
This is my poem for One Shot Wednesday. There is no form to it, no rhyme , little reason – so like the world in the Japan of today!! Unicef is there for the relief for Japan’s children.
Photography: courtesy of Getty Images / CNN News
penned in moon dust 
Not easy to describe a child’s horror in simple yet effective language. But you did it! Stomach dropping imagry. J.
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ugh…you put us right in there feeling the world shaking to its core…my prayers go out to Japan and all those affected…thanks for having a social conscience…nice one shot!
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It’s truly hard to even imagine.
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terrible devastation – thanks for making it a topic on this weeks osw moonie
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Thankyou, very beautiful, no disrespect meant, but I would call it splintered, or fractured style, as I immagine their lives and thought patterns are , from shock and loss. Bless You, Rest Gently Please. Dusty
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I have to agree and no “disrespect” in your comment. there are times that emotion pulls at the very fiber of form and what is left is “splintered!”
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Wow. As heartbreaking as it should be. Very hard-hitting. Thanks. 🙂
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It was formed by the word love.
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there is great reasoning in your words…as I witness the aftermath from the easy chair,
I wonder who wrote poems for me the day after…now I know
Peace, hp
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Your heart has felt this anguish my friend 😦
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We all pray as one, for the shaking to cease, for loved ones to be reunited if it all possible… and for comfort to all who are left behind.
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Leslie – When I read your piece I felt some of the disjointed fear of a child thrust into something like this. Yes, many in Japan have felt it before, but never so deadly amd frightening. Thank you.
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Thanks for stating tragedy in the simple language of a child. Good job.
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a childs testimony
pure, direct, urgent and heartbreakingly honest
while watching the footage the desire to hug overwhelms me
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Well said, mdw. It’s hard to wrap one’s head around what must be going on there now. Tragic on a scale beyond imagining.
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From a child’s fear, eyes, heart. The truth unbedecked.
Powerful, Moonie. To the essense.
Lady Nyo.
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Thank you dear friend – ohhh those dear
!!!
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To think of all the children and their losses. . . this tugs at the heart.
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No, there’s no rhyme or reason. It’s just heartbreaking.
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Such a terrible tragedy.
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Formed from Love indeed…..
.·´¯`·.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸PRAYER WAVE¸.·´¯`·.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸ Going out to all those affected in Japan by the Earthquake and Tsunami! ♥ Light a Candle & Keep this going…
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This welled me up MDW….
Touching, sad, powerful.
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I am sure this is exactly how they feel…stop the shaking….bkm
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That last part really hit me. Great expression of loss and devastation. I can only begin to imagine what so many are going through right now. It is heart-breaking.
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please things are breaking / mama’s dishes / papa’s bones
I really enjoyed these lines. And the poem too, but not what the poem is talking about. So sad.
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Oh! To be afraid even to close our eyes. The CHILDREN! The devastation…the total “splinteredness” of it all. (Will there be more shaking tomorrow, Momma?)
You did a GoooD job, Leslie! Thank you, for helping to keep this story alive here…even with all the dead there…
PEACE
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We went through a large earthquake when my son was just a babe. The ground didn’t want to stop shaking – yet I can’t imagine this Hell in Japan
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Heartbreaking!! And it’s even worse when you see it thru’ a little child’s eyes… 😦 It’s unimaginable to me, sitting here, in the warm comfort of my home!! 😦
Beautifully expressed, Moon..
I wish our love and prayers and an extended hand do SOMETHING (if anything) for these kids…
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Very evocative. Your perspective also reveals one of the most unbearable truths… The children will live with these memories all their lives.
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“Papa’s bones are shaking…” the fragile life we all live simply put yet dangerously tittering in our minds. Thanks for a deceivingly simple poem you used to make me reflect again and again on truths!
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Ooops, ‘teetering’ is what I meant not ‘tittering’!!! Sorry about that.
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If we could only stop the shaking with our hearts held out to them with both hands. This is a tragedy on a scale that I cannot even imagine, and wish to never have to live through myself. My thoughts are with these poor people. Very good of you to give them voice Leslie
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So appropriate and so expressive. Difficult to imagine the horror of it all.
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Heartfelt indeed.. It’s darn easy to sit here and comment.. But when a tragedy strikes, it catches off- guard!
My wishes n prayers for you and every one else.. May this not happen to anyone- not even the ones who we don’t know..
The words scared me when that child started expressing!
Hugs n Peace xoxox
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Heartbreaking words Moonie. NZ is still trying to recover from the recent quake here. I can’t imagine how they must be coping in Japan.
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The best writing seems to spill out from the heart, as this did, Dear Moon.
Unicef is a great organization. We gave via the Red Cross, which is wonderful too.
Big big love to you now and always, Moon.
xoxo
P.S. If it’s any consolation, I didn’t take in any of the SXSW week, and won’t. But I will if you come to visit.
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I suppose I can’t imagine what they are going through but this poem is probably pretty close to representing it. Well done.
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it’s unspeakable horror ~ not one, but three disasters. you caught not only the earthquake and tsunami, but the post traumatic stress disorder that i heard almost everyone in Japan is suffering from. too much to deal with already, but they also have the terror of the threat from the nuclear power plant. unimaginable.
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