Living With Mother Nature's Bruise

We turned to each other when we heard on the news Our daughters place of work, enduring mother nature's bruise She worked on an island now swamped with wrath To her we now travel to retrace her last path To go there blind never knowing if she breathes Thoughts think the worst as we subconsciously grieve Our daughter, our life, as we make plans to depart Facing hours of torment as our minds tear apart To this island we head where she enjoys life to the full Thinking back to her young years, learning in school This paradise as she calls it, in the Indian Ocean Our minds picture, her love to live notions We step of the plane into a world far from home Praying we find her, dead or alive, to never roam To the north of the island, Aceh is it's name Is this where we find her, with no one to blame We reach the village, it's where our daughter calls home Teaching the youngsters English along the beaches they combed We wander dazed and confused, joining the crying and the grieving Emotional rescuers surround us, they just keep on believing Hand in hand we stare hoping, as our eyes glimpse the lost Our daughters not there, as we join the emotional exhaust Suddenly I feel a tugging on my sleeve Lady lady, you my teachers mama, come with me please Looking down, my eyes cascading with tears A beautiful young girl, momentarily relieving my fears Lady lady, please please, come with me please To a makeshift hospital she takes us, our hearts so in unease To a door we arrive, she cries, mama's teacher mama's teacher As she is led away by the hospital preacher We are greeted by a doctor, taken through corridors of death The relieving earlier felt, now replaced by inner reft The stench of death drifts, lost souls we feel crying Resonating sounds echo, the last breaths of the dying Cubicle after cubicle, every curtain our hearts run In broken English, is she the one, is she the one The second curtain from the last, the doctor once again opens Despair and tears increase, parents lost in their hoping Before us lies, a broken twisted bandaged soul The tattoo on her ankle, I cry Nicole, it's our Nicole Engulfed with emotions our cheeks streaming with tears Viewing the earlier posters, parents losing their fears Living this moment, realising their daughter has lived As we look back to the pictures, knowing families are sieved Words we will remember until the day we are gone That moment we heard, is she the one, is she the one