One Year On

When I was in Koh Lanta last month, the manager of my guesthouse showed me a song book. It was a joint effort among local artistes to raise financial aid after the tsunami. The songs touched on various topics but two in particular stood out. They were about the tsunami and may have been performed at the commemorations in Thailand today. Fortunately, both included English lyrics.

Tsunami
Never dream, never thought
Of what may come
To be completely in the dark
To live these live upon the fear
Never sight, never sense it and there is no clue
What is tsunami out of the blue
How many lives that we have lost
They came like the Great Reaper
Upon the beach unstoppable power
Destroy everything
Tsunami
Never dare, we are all surrounded
They are seeking survivors
Oh no can't you see
We all tremble now with pain
No matter who, no matter which nations
There is no exception
Mother Nature masters everything
Everyone likes a little sand
Andaman
A place of paradise
Now we are leaving when they are dying
They had suffered whilst we are crying...oh life
Andaman
Still a paradise
No more pain, no more cry
Healing by love giving heart
No more pain, no more cry
Healing...

26/12/04
Well, I'm sure that by now
You have seen all the scenes
On the TV screens
And the statistics
It's the day after Christmas
We know that you’ll miss us
But we’ve gone away
It’s a wave and it came
Ant it took away everything
That meant anything
Schools and hotels
Temples and bells
A vision of hell
Mother or father
Sister or brother
Prince or pauper
There’s no difference
In their hundreds of thousands
A matter of second
They washed away
And you’d think
There is a reason
Or maybe a season
That is to blame
And those that survived
Are left wondering
Why oh why not me?