Teddy Bear Tears for Haiti

Poetic tribute to the innocent young victims of Haiti and the hope they represent for the future of this Caribbean jewel.

Haiti

Echoes…of Children

Haiti’s Lost Treasure

Shaking, Mama! World is quaking; when’s it gonna stop?
Wham, bang, Poppa, falling softly, zang, zang, poppity pop

Crashing, bashing, all is crazy, stop it, pretty please, stop
Houses tumbling in the dark ravine, a major catastrophe

In my mind I’m running freely, finding a blessed quiet place,
Running, praying, falling fiercely, wishing best for the rest

Where world not shaking, walls not falling, finding peace
Concrete falling, shearing down with mighty killer weight

Rumbling Earth shaking us around and pouring concrete
No time for panic as our thundering, roaring world explodes


Dark here trapped now, with fires burning all around me
Dust clogs my breathless dry parched wordless little mouth

Pretty doggie, cozy up beside me, all this long perilous night
Unaware of thousands navigating streets of burning death

Penitentiary breaking, Inmates escaping, unite in peace
United Nations falls, hundreds of souls missing in plight

Haiti’s worst day, imagining disaster? No, it’s come to pass
Peacekeepers, rise to protect us from our thirsty demons

Search and Rescue, help my trapped and hungry people
Big dogs, little blacks, Pinschers, Huskies, mighty Malamutes

Faint cries from the rubble run through veins forever
Sad and disturbing, buried souls s'screaming for their rescue

Within the Common Grave, we say ‘must go now, it's time
We love you though we’re here no more; still, we intertwine’

‘We send you all our love and strength, courage now divine
Suddenly lost were we; lost no more, we found eternal time’

Poppa, Momma, I’m no longer hurting, terrified lonely, amiss
I’m watching the world full of peaceful loving bliss.

Haiti O, Haiti

How can we, artists of the world, help you with your sorrow?
More than painting, writing poems, snapping photographs?

Spread the word? Raise relief? Soothe your empty heart?
Share our hopeful vision? Relocate tent camps newly risen?

We feel your bleeding raw despair, wordless tireless courage
Our empathy pours out to you as rescuers carry aid through.

Haiti’s Darkest Day

We cry for your soul,
Jewel of the Caribbean,
As Chaos and sorrow
Tumble poverty aground.

Rumbling and roaring,
Fury knows no bounds
Catastrophic misfortune,
Screaming all around.

Schools crushed yet,
Hope arises…
Some children survive
To rebuild, reconstruct
Earthquake resistant
homes.

Teddy Bear Tears

A roaring locomotive soars up underground
After earthen plates crash into one another

Hillside Shantytown falling down, down in ruins

Showering white concrete powder chunks like snow

Mother Nature’s angry fire, color of fury, glows
What have I done to bring down such wrath?

How can I stop this, dear Teddy, reverse it?
Can I still change my fate in time for dinner?


Now I feel my leg, pinned and badly broken
My reading glasses pinch something fierce

Someone nearby screams, praying for rescue
Save me! Can’t hold on, hurts way too much

Please rescue me too, for I must find Teddy
He’s splashing huge crocodile tears up above

Too much pain…that can’t be me, is it really?
How can I scream, when my Teddy’s in pain?

I am only eleven and just set the dinner table
With my entire family present milling around

There’s a chair there too, for dear little Teddy,
Where in chaos is my tear-stained stuffy?
Will my blessed friend
Ever be found?