Squeals of children,
Laughter and joy
Of husband and wife
Pounding of feet
Buzzing activity
Sounds of life


Wet streets
Marketplace
Large, boisterous mess
Reeking of fish,
Fragrance of flowers
Smells, of happiness


An argument between friends,
A raw heart trying to mend
A goodbye
A stolen kiss,
A proposal,
A beautiful gift


Joyous hearts, sad hearts
Life and death,
So far from their minds
None could have known
The End was hovering
Just above their heads

An explosion,
Mighty and bold
Tore through the streets
Many a heart failed
People began
To scream and weep


The earth shook
As sobs racked through her body
She watched, aghast,
As her children
Were punished
Heartlessly


An outbreak of fire
Quakes of fear
Crumbling of a building
Screams and shouts
Moans of pain,
Chaos, all around


Sirens, then silence
At the end of the day
Seventeen dead,
A hundred injured
Seventeen incomplete homes,
A hundred wounded families


A mother’s empty womb
A father’s lonely house
A lover’s broken heart
A sister’s fallen smile
A son’s lost hope
A husband’s torn soul


Bodies splattered with blood
Fragments of a hand and leg
All the destruction
Caused by a small device,
Hidden in an umbrella
And a man’s blackened heart


Women held their injured sons
In their laps, they almost looked asleep
Everyone was drowning
In the sorrows of the day
Even the heavens sobbed and cried
A tribute to those lost, and all that died


What man or woman or beast
Would not tremble
To see such fate?
Whose heart wouldn’t burn
At the sight before their eyes,
Upon seeing such a sad state?