Category 5

Here is a poem I found by Brad Russell. It compares our chaotic financial times to the days of Noah, or if you like, a category 5 hurricane. People's lives are devastated by both. At the end of the poem there is a glimmer of hope.

noah's nightmare

category 5 swirl
abstract colors, stats on a map
come shrieking and deluge
blunt force trama battering a beautiful beach head
surging ocean, rain and tears wash into one
superdome ark
30,000 souls 2 x 2
rooftop pleas heavenward
whirling angels
funeral barges

who are the righteous?

affluent who flow and flee
any man doing what he can

who are the wicked?

poor with no place to go
oil company looters
posting record profits
politicos with no plan

rain falls on them all
we accept you don't stop these things
but please help us go forward
come together
get what can be gotten
raise one another up
resurrect the submerged good
swirl up category 5 compassion,
not priced-less pity
we will never stop believing you care

I like this poem. If we could have had category 5 compassion all along, maybe little children would not be crying themselves to sleep because they fear for the future. Maybe their parents would not be wondering how they are going to feed their kids. Never the less, we still believe. We have to, if we want to move forward.