Storm

She walked down the lonely beach
Listening to the waves
Crash against the rocks
And as she did, she was worried
Her man had not yet brought the boat in
And the catch still had to be cleaned
And she thought to herself
That she would lecture him today,
He never really cared about them at home
As long as he had his tackle and rod.
Her children would be cold and hungry
And she was worried about her boy
Aye, she was proud of him too,
He could lift her still
And was so strong;
She would sell her last jewel piece tomorrow
And get her boy the new crutches
She had seen with some children yesterday.

He decided to risk the choppy waves
And left the outlet and dared the storm
The catch was abundant, he would not need to venture
For atleast a week;
Maybe he would get those new crutches
For his son
And a little doll for his girl
From the children he had seen yesterday
And wondered briefly
Why the toys with them had looked familiar;
And he thought of her walking
Keeping her silent vigil
Not resting till she saw him
And he was worried;
It was getting dark
And she would be alone tonight;
And he thought of another night
When he had lost his father
And knew her fear of the sea.

She sat huddled in her hut
Listening to the storm outside
The lamp still shone bright
But her parents were not home
Her father didn’t care about her
She was only a girl after all;
She thought of the money she had saved
Selling her toys to the other children
And wondered how much the crutches would cost.
She never could sleep
Until she cuddled against her mother
Unlike her brother, who was already snoring
And she envied him his sleep
And watched his chest rise and fall
In a rythm that soothed her fears,
Just a little.

He cringed at the sounds breaking out
And wept that he had failed his mother
She didn’t trust him alone anymore
And wouldn’t
Until she saw him walk again.
As he kept up his snores
He always knew she would sleep in a while
His sound was her lullaby
And his throat hurt
But he could still see her shiver
And cursed that he could not walk to her
Cursed his legs that would not move anymore;
And wondered if he had done the right thing
Selling those new crutches the strangers had given him today
To buy her new toys
And thought of the smile on her face
When he would give them to her tomorrow
And continued with the snores.

The old man walked down the sand
And lay himself to sleep under the canopy
Built between two broken boats
And wondered if his bones would ache again that night;
And looked across the light in the hut
That reminded him of a family and warmth
Both long gone now
And wondered at the little boy
Whose arms were strong enough to lift heavy loads
Even if his legs were useless;
And made a mental note to himself
To leave the new crutches out the door
He had bought
With the money coming into him
From those different organisations
That he helped out as a translator;
It was time,
He decided,
That his grandson walked.

His family did not know he had survived
The tsunami
And needn’t
They didn’t need another mouth to feed
Not when he had no arms
To help around
Pride – he decided was all he had
And he would keep that intact
To the end.