I can hear the helicopters rumbling,
They must be here to aid.
It was a normal day when the walls came tumbling
They kept me safe, but now betrayed.

Shouting from the depths,
My words don't crack the surface.
Struggling to take a breath,
The ruins, like a furnace.

Chaos ensues above the rubble,
People working towards the same cause.
Shouts generate from mumbles,
A body is found, a collective pause.

The sounds get louder,
The people get closer.
Down comes the powder,
The blocks are all turned over.

My face and the warm sun,
Best friends once upon a time.
The friendship bracelets once spun,
Now a stolen piece of jewelry amidst a heinous crime. 

I was pulled out from underneath,
Stabilized, lifted, and carried.
They tell tales of the others beneath,
About what happened to them in January.

I sit now inside an airless tent,
My bed next to hundreds of familiar faces.
We lay in this shelter, our limbs are bent,
The help we're getting, it's barely the basics.

The adults talk about it day and night,
"It's going to be fine," they lie.
Some don't have the energy and most don't have the might,
All they can do is sit here and wait to die.