Waiting in an Ishinomaki Classroom

By Cheryl L. Daytec

(Thirty children) sit quietly in the corner of a third-

floor classroom where they have waited each day
since the tsunami swept into the town of Ishinomaki
for their parents to collect them. So far, no one has
come and few at the school now believe they will.

-The Daily Mail, 18 March 2011

Mama, when the classroom shook

And the teacher told us to be calm
I thought of you and Dad and Baby
I have been waiting here in a corner
I always look at our newest picture
The one inside the green wallet
You gave me on my 6th birthday
You and Dad… you are smiling
While Baby is clapping her hands
As I stroke the head of my poodle
I think of our home near the sea
My soft low chair in the corner
For when I watch the television

Some classmates are with me

They, too, wait for their parents
At night before we go to sleep
We read books, we play cards
Sometimes we forget, we forget
We are just waiting; when we do
We do not want to play anymore
We want to cry but no one does
We prefer the still, cold silence
To our noise when we play, or cry
Or tell stories or slurp miso soup
In silence we can hear a mother’s voice
Say sweetly, “I am here, my child.”25mar2011