An Earthquake
– Manasa Reddy Chichili
An earthquake
Tear comes for loved ones
Bodies drowned in the bloody flood
All they could do was search
Search for his daughter
Not knowing if she was alive
Or a dead body
The boy was sitting with his knife
To kill the storm
Naivety and hatred combined
The mother was sitting with her kids
Playing games in the soft breeze
Now even their remains are unfound
Who knows what will happen next
When we don’t know how it even starts
When will nature rage
When will the foundation crack
Who knows who will become orphans
Who knows who will die
Who knows how to close this
Pandora’s box we’ve opened
All we can do is pray
Pray for life
Pray for hope
Pray for just another day
*****
Manasa Reddy Chichili a poet from Hyderabad, Telangana. My haiku and tanka have been published in several journals such as Under the Basho, Mainichi Haiku and others. My haiku was nominated for the Touchstone Award (2025), and I have also dabbled in writing haikus directly in Japanese.