… and after six days, she sang

Days underground
tons of concrete all around
pain from her broken fingers
reminded her she was still alive.
No food, no water
she looked to the future
and all she saw
was death.

On the sixth day
she heard some movement,
maybe another quake,
an aftershock to the big one.

The building lay crumbled
all around her. The screams

quieted after the third day
her own voice, raw from crying,
stench of death surrounded her,
she waited for her own demise.

It didn’t come.

Instead… a faraway call
from her husband.
Was he coming to escort
her to heaven?
She called out
then a light upon her face
made her smile, thinking it was time.
She called out again
only to realize she was still alive.

Finally released from her tomb
three hours to set her free
she thanked god, proclaiming

love for her husband,
and then she sang.

Her song rose above the rubble,
causing rescuers and news teams to weep,
because like Lazarus

she was raised from the dead
to live again.

It was time to celebrate,
to praise god for his mercy,
to give hope to all who despair,
to remind the world through her song,
“Don’t be afraid of death.”

Later she traveled down the road
seeing the devastation
and destruction she survived in Haiti.