I come from a place where everything is always
everything And time is nothing
Reality the laughter of a child
Happiness the feeling around me
Time never changes.
It rained and homes got flooded,
In my child like eyes I saw puddles to play in,
Streams to jump in,
Ponds to swim in,
Not knowing that for adults,
Time had become
nothing
Time had stood still,
Their only thoughts were to rescue chairs and
floating across my imaginary lake.
I laugh at a chair floating past with a cat sat on
its arm,
He looked funny.
"Look" I said,
Stepping up to try and grab him,
Arms pulled me back,
I tried to get slack
To put the cat into my imaginary sack
But I run out of luck,
He had nine lives and jumped off,
As a barrel rolled by and pushed the chair against
the lodged car
That got stuck in the mud.
"Look" I cried, "Look at the
cat,"
"Be careful", someone said,
"We are in a flood that is dangerous,
Caused by the rainstorm."
It seemed times stood still,
Nothing changed,
It is the norm,
Floods after every rain.
Who cares if the poor are washed away and end up
with no where to stay,
Who cares if they cannot find shelter and walk
around forlorn and running helter skelter,
Who cares if they go hungry and suffer, while the
rich live in affluence,
Throwing away things that could feed a whole
village.
The flood just washed away what little they had,
While the rich just say it is the government who
should help.
They say in the media "Why do the poor live
near flood prone areas,"
"Why do they suffer each time it rains,"
The rich live in luxury and blame the poor
Who try as they may cannot get any help
No help from the rich,
No help from the government,
No help to help themselves get a better life.
But I, a child, only looked at the cat sitting on
the arm of the chair floating by .
(c) Mariska Taylor-Darko 2018
