Elvis Alves
For Victims of Natural Catastrophes
We cross the river to the other side where a mother
and child wait for the sun before going forward. The
new day a promise fulfilled to them. And us. So we
celebrate life every day because a catastrophe can
happen without a moment’s notice. Uprooting. To
transport the will where it does not want to go.
A stubbornness unfamiliar only in its familiarity,
like a counterpart that is part of the whole.
Life happens with intrusions. It is true that every-
thing breaks and needs fixing. An answer that precedes
the question that births it. There is a fate
that becomes you and that you need to make.