33 Miners

Luis Urzua

33 miners below.

Not looking into an abyss, but from it.

Each man gazes up at impermeable, ancient rock,

sealing him in his doom, in his tomb.

69 days of not knowing

how it will be, if they will be.

69 days of hope, despair, grief and doubt.

Deep below and high above, leaders emerge,

courage ebbs and flows, and frailties come to the fore.

Hope arrives as the urgency of birth, thrusting, piercing the rock.

One by one, the men are lifted into a new unknown,

Newborns delivered from the earth to the waiting arms of a joyous world.
Martha