![injured baby held by medical staff](https://wearenotnumbers.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Omar-1.jpg)
From under the rubble, I cried
When all at once was gone
I saw people crowded side by side
I wish I could run
I decide
To cry so hard, to wail.
Under the rubble:
Could a five-month-old baby utter a word?
A sound of chaos was the only thing I heard
Pain!
Sigh!
Pain!
Sigh!
Unbearable –sigh – pain!
A blast of light was finally plain
Camera flashes?
Who are the strangers holding me?
This is not my mother’s smell; nor my father’s
Why are they all taking photos?
Only strangers all around
I needed nobody but my Mum
![father kissing injured infant](https://wearenotnumbers.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Omar-2-1-2.jpg)
I cried one further time
And finally my father’s been found
More hopeful I’ve become
Finally back home, but with a difference.
Despite the loss, my father and I don’t surrender.
Given this chance was not a coincidence
Life is worth living and I am here, the sender
Of a message of glorious significance
That this world still has hope despite the incident
And I will be an ever-lasting defender.