-Vanessa Kiefer (‘20)

 

The Aftermath

In the aftermath,

We watch in horrified fascination

 

How the brilliant green palm trees

Have been swallowed by the murky sea

 

How the crystal white town-houses

Have been decimated into withering walls

 

And how the once welcoming waves

Have perished into ripples of rage

 

In the aftermath,

We watch in a silent sense of chaos

How the vibrant blue ponds

Have transformed into gaping pools of black

 

How the clear blue skies

Have been enveloped by an ocean of smog

 

How the people we know and love

Have scrambled to leave their homes, their hearts

 

In the aftermath,

We are forced to watch from afar

 

But in the renewal,

We can act, we can change.

 

On September 8th, the monstrous Hurricane Irma hit the Florida Keys, a minor obstacle in the storm’s path up the Eastern Coast of Florida and well into Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee. Although Irma has since been downgraded to a “post-tropical cyclone” by the National Hurricane Center (NHC), the massive destruction caused by the storm is still an extreme conflict of interest. Also tearing across the west coast of Cuba and the Caribbean Islands, the hurricane has left dozens dead. As the raging storm ruthlessly crumbled citizens’ homes, businesses and towns, the abundance of repair costs alone is estimated to be as high as $300 billion. This does not even take into account the toll of U.S. food prices, as the Floridian area is the reliable home to many of the nation’s key crops, such as orange groves and other citrus crops (Cornes). The horrific events of the ongoing storm have left victim areas close to, if not completely, helpless, raising immediate need for funds and reinforcements.