A Mother's Love

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I wrote this poem after reading a true account of a Swedish mother and her three sons. It was after the Boxing Day tsunami and the photograph in the English paper showed the terrified faces of everyone running for their lives from the beach, except for one Swedish woman who was running towards this enormous wall of water that rising across the sea in Thailand and bearing down at terrific speed on her three young sons who were oblivious of any danger. She , with a grim determined look on her face was raising towards the sea. That picture still haunts me.

Carefree and sunning,
Scenery stunning,
Relaxed feeling free,
Kids play in the sea.
Then people are screaming,
Pinch, am I dreaming?
Past me everyone runs, 
I look for my sons.

They are not running,
Nature is cunning,
A tsunami wave,
God! I must run, save
My boys there, all three,
From danger, the sea
Is rising, towers,
Coming fast, powers.

Tall as a building,
There is no shielding
Them from the forceful
Sea, unremorseful,
As it races, alarming,
Must stop it harming,
Must rescue my boys
Before the wave destroys. 

I push down my fear,
For to me it's clear
That as their mother
There is no other
That can save their lives.
So as everyone strives
To run out, away,
I race through the spray.

I run and I shout
To the boys to get out,
Then as I get near
I see my worst fear
Realised, the sea
Hits them, then hits me.
I'm fighting to swim,
The outlook seems grim.

As it roars, thunders,
Taking lives, plunders
Everything it reaches,
Waves rage across beaches.
I am sucked, pulled down
So deep, nearly drown,
Then tossed on a hill,
I'm thrown, alive still.

I look all around,
Move to higher ground.
Go out of my mind,
Panic till I find,
Amid debris and death,
My boys, out of breath
But safe, all nearby,
I hold them and cry.

I just can't believe,
Think my eyes deceive 
Me, so many died, 
Even though they tried
To run out, to live,
I ran in to give
Love like no other,
The love of a mother.

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