Immense Sorrow

 

An agonising scream, a piercing wail, a door slammed shut.

Heartfelt sobs, the sounds of bitter weeping broke the stillness of the dawn

A kaleidoscope of human suffering

Sadness concealed as blinds were drawn,

but nought could stifle the chorus of those who wept

till tears came no more.

Women, old and young donned black attire

Symbols of irreparable loss.

A lad from every street never to return, hurt beyond belief

Souls lost in grief, hearts ached with pain.

Lost in a moment.

Lives, families destroyed, communities fragmented

A town scarred by a grevious blow

A maze of streets, pathways of grief

An opened wound never to heal

Widows, orphans created overnight

Memories left of happier days as salt in the wound

A church bell tolled as if counting the dead, again and again.

A town immersed in sorrow, drenched in tears

Despair, despondency and abandonment.

Would any return? A glimmer of hope perhaps,

or had all gone for eternity?

Mournful countenances, some veiled, others with vacant expressions,

wide eyed and disbelieving: lost foresaken, empty and bereft.

A woman´s voice was heard to cry

How many?