Formosa 04.02
Background for the poem: On April 2, 2021 local time, a deadly train crash happened on the eastern shores of Taiwan, near Hualien and a scenic spot called Qingshui Cliffs in Taruko National Park. The train was heading from Taipei to the eastern city of Taitung. As of this writing, at least 50 were killed with many more injured.
The island’s other name means beautiful
Densely populated on the coasts
Mountain range running down the middle like a spine
West facing a great power beyond the strait
East facing another great power across a great ocean
The eastern coast
sapphire ocean lapping
tiny strips of black sand beaches for borders
verdant lush mountains rising sharply
towering above the blue
With place names like “Lotus Flower” and “Clear Water”
Tunnels had been carved into the mountains
against all odds in that hostile landscape
a feat so many had sacrificed for
The train, painted in orange and white
setting off from the capital packed with folks going home
All the seats were full so many stood in the aisles
It was a holiday weekend
to pay respect to the ancestors
A construction vehicle
started slipping down the slope
until it tumbled onto the tracks
It sat there an unexploded time bomb
It was too late to brake when the thundering crash happened
The sheer force pushed aside the construction vehicle
The carriages careened into the tunnel
Came to a screeching halt
Momentum is mass times velocity
It amplified the cruelty of the narrowness the train was thrown into
The crush of the rear carriages against the front ones
Twisted metal
Unrecognizable piles of junk
Broken bodies
Scarred minds
The smell of blood in the darkness
Too dark
The smashing of windows by survivors to escape
The whispers of agony of those who survived the crash
but didn’t survive the wait for the rescuers
The screams of those who watched their loved ones die
What do you say to the woman who wanted to bring her family
to her indigenous homeland
who found her husband and son lifeless
called out for her daughter
and watched her die before her eyes
and now berates herself for taking her kids with her?
What do you say to the man who called out so that rescuers
would hand him his five-year-old daughter
who died in his arms?
Life is impermanent
Tomorrow is not guaranteed
A series of ghastly coincidences
Causing the unimaginable
In my heart I light a candle for my (second) homeland
The international community sends condolences
Knowing that mere words cannot mend them
for perhaps nothing ever could
