Must It Be So? Poem by Pamela Davison

Must It Be So?

Rating: 4.8


We were sleeping
When the dirty water
Came rushing down,
Drowning our arrogance
And releasing our fears
Into the atmosphere.

We were stunned.
Ravaged by consequence
Melting around our feet.
Disorienting panic
Was devoted to the air,
Igniting exhausting anarchy.

Pandemonium ruled
This day
While we were rendered speechless,
Ruined by our own
Inability to escape
Such confounding spoils.

The dirty water rose,
Bringing indignant death
And uniting a new breed,
The best and worst
Humanity has to offer
To this brave, old world.

Voices lifted into the molten sky,
Crying for help
Beyond comprehension,
Catapulting an echo
Even as it occurred
Around the globe.

Why must it be so
That man’s integrity
Is tested by disaster?
Why must it take
Such extreme devastation
To wake us?

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Max Reif 10 September 2005

Totally immediate, and ending this one with the question in the air that demands to be asked, feels completely appropriate to me. 'brave old world'-perfect, and amazingly, I've never heard that before!

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Kay Francis 08 September 2005

Why indeed? There is a sophistication in this piece that I've not seen in some of the other disaster pieces I've read. The work is intelligent, compassionate, and yet, almost in my face with regret. I loved the conflicting emotions this piece brings to mind. You must be a very unique, brilliant woman: =)

0 0 Reply
Maggie Flanagan-Wilkie 08 September 2005

I like where you went with the opening that you read to me. Great perspective, Sis.

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