Catastrophe Poem by David Wood

In the news this week we hear of two tragedies at sea.
The disappearance of a handful of ultra rich explorers:
With twenty four hour news coverage for all to see,
And updates every few minutes, of all the horrors.

Despite safety concerns now coming to light
there was a ‘catastrophic implosion' in the dark deep
That will cost millions of dollars to put right
To find the reason, and it won't be cheap.

The other tragic ‘catastrophic event, ' at sea,
Was the 750 or so poverty stricken refugees
Drowned off the Greek coast, trying to flee
The poverty of their existence, in life's stormy seas.

Not much media coverage there, they're too poor.
But the biggest ‘catastrophe' is humanities
Blindness to the flood of refugees shown the door
To life that never opens. Such are our vanities.

That the focus was on a handful of ultra rich,
Who should have known better, who paid the price;
Yet it's the poor that the world is always willing to ditch,
To throw over, and just left to their own device.

And it is this inhumanity to the worlds lost poor
That is the biggest ‘catastrophe' of the western world,
Where those left behind are shown a closed door,
And where life's ‘red carpet' is never unfurled.

How the world responds to catastrophe is the measure
Of humanity's love and compassion for others
Less fortunate. Love and compassion is a treasure.
We must treat all humanities lost and poor as brothers.