Floods of Fear

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

[Update: From February to April 2019, widespread flash flooding affected large parts of Pakistan, most severely in Balochistan, KPK, Punjab, and other provinces. ... The main areas affected were Turbat, Tump, Nasirabad and Dasht where 300 people were displaced due to the flood.]
Dare I suggest climate change is not as recent a phenomenon as some people are suggesting, not to mention as many others who remain in denial.?


The 2010 Pakistan floods directly affected an estimated 14-20 million people, and killed over 1,700. Nearly 1.1 million homes were damaged or destroyed, and at least 436 health care facilities were destroyed. The floods in Pakistan began in late July 2010, resulting from heavy monsoon rains in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab and, Balochistan regions of Pakistan, which affected the Indus River basin.

Nature alone is not to blame. Humanity is polluting its earth, air, seas and rivers, and we need to start taking our individual responsibilities to the planet seriously before it is too late. Too many people don't even recycle waste, even where facilities are provided, and do not see it as their problem; we all need to do what we can...or it will be left to future generations to suffer the consequences and pick up whatever pieces may be left. 

Past-present-future is a continuum for which we all need to shoulder some responsibility instead of shrugging off the likes of climate change as fake news or as of no immediate personal concern to us so let other people clean up our mess...

FLOODS OF FEAR

Floods of fear confronting Pakistan,

indiscriminate, rich and poor;

terrorism no less a threat than rain

Now and then, the worst monsoon

breaks down the strongest door;

floods of fear confronting Pakistan

Pain and grief as the world looks on

(some say could, should do more);

terrorism no less a threat than rain

Those left homeless, no peace plan

for reconstructing their future;

floods of fear confronting Pakistan

Across the border with Afghanistan

some two-way trafficking for sure;

floods of fear confronting Pakistan

Aid on its way, can’t arrive too soon;

nature wreaking sickness and more;

floods of fear confronting Pakistan;

terrorism, no less a threat than rain

Copyright R. N. Taber 2010

INDUS RISING

Swathes of the Indus rising

where homes stood, crops grew,

men, women, children dying

It’s live in tents or nothing

whom the monsoon rains pursue;

swathes of the Indus rising

Millions have lost everything,

aid taking its time to filter through;

men, women, children dying

Cases of cholera spreading

like a terrorist nightmare come true;

swathes of the Indus rising

The stink of bodies floating

where nature’s wrath spares but few;

men, women, children dying

Human spirit near breaking,

yet its promises to mend ringing true;

swathes of the Indus rising;

men, women, children dying

Copyright R. N. Taber 2010

[Note: Both poems appear in Tracking the Torchbearer by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2012.]

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Earthquake Haiti

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

A magnitude-7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti on the afternoon of January 12, 2010, was one more disaster in a country that had suffered from decades of political, economic, and social setbacks and inequalities.

With approximately 3 million people affected, it was the most devastating natural disaster ever experienced in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Roughly 250,000 lives were lost and 300,000 people were injured. About 1.5 million individuals were forced to live in makeshift internally displaced person camps. As a result, the country faced the greatest humanitarian need in its history. Some nine years after the earthquake, the situation in Haiti is very different and now much better prepared for similar natural disasters. “A few months ago there was an earthquake in the north of the country. The state was prepared and they sent their people to support those affected; it was not a major earthquake, but now the population knows how to react. More importantly, Haitians understand how important it is to build better and strongly in case an earthquake would hit.

Climate change or whatever, nature - like human nature - can be a good friend and a bad enemy.

EARTHQUAKE, HAITI

Devastation everywhere,

corpses left lying in the open;

Haiti, country in despair

Little clean water to spare,

body odours sure to worsen;

devastation everywhere

Desperate for medical care,

(cuts festering, limbs broken);

Haiti, country in despair

International aid in the air

(survivors feeling forgotten);

devastation everywhere

Richer nations, have a care

for the sheer poverty of ruin;

Haiti, country in despair

Body and soul stripped bare,

hope slow to re-awaken,

devastation everywhere;

Haiti, country in despair

[London: Jan 15^th 2010] 

Copyright R. N. Taber

Human Spirit, Battle Cry OR Who's Counting the Petals?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

Sometimes I despair of the world we live in. (Well, don’t you?) But despair never did anyone any good so, no matter how high the odds stacked against success, we have to try and stay positive.

True, it's never easy…

As I have said before - and dare say will continue repeating myself (as I often do) - if we can’t change the world, we can at least try and improve our own little corner of it, and trust that the ripples any change for the better make…will spread.

HUMAN SPIRIT, BATTLE CRY or WHO'S COUNTING THE PETALS?

Floods here, drought there, swollen bellies;
refugees from civil wars pleading aid;

terror taking place on our own TVs, world

rising above its being afraid

So what are the world’s governments doing?

All they can, we’re expected to believe,

so why tragic images we’re seeing of a world
wearing its heart on its sleeve?

Where horror hits hardest, a hurt laid bare;

beyond headlines, inconceivable pain;

where flowers at gravesides, petals like tears
for those battling to move on

Cash (still) flowing freely for wars, elections,

Big Business politics for generations ...

Copyright R. N. Taber 2004;2018

[Note: A slightly different version of this poem appeared in a 2004 issue of CC&D magazine, Scars (US) publications and subsequently in A Feeling for the Quickness of Time by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2005.]