Published:January 17th, 2010 21:46 EST

Words for Haiti - Memories of 1995

I can`t give you the words

To tell you how it feels

To stand at the foot of a pile of rubble

Rubble that just a few minutes before

Had been a building

A building that contained

People you worked with

People you cared about

I can`t give you the words to describe

How it feels

Not knowing

Not knowing whether they are trapped

Or dead

There are no words to describe those

Those who dug through pieces of concrete

Sometimes with their bare hands

To try and reach people

They have never met

There are no words

For what you remember

The smell of the air

That even the rain can not wash away

The tears of the families

As they discover

What they had feared

And deep down

Knew

Still

There are no words

For a pain as deep

As this

I can`t give you the words

That describe what happens

In the next few hours

The next few days

The next few weeks

Or even the next few years

No

I am a poet

I have written so many things

Laid out so many words on paper

So much of my life

I have placed before you

But no

I can`t give you the words

To describe what those in Haiti are feeling right now

Sometimes

Words like these

Can truly not be found

In the end

All that I am left to offer

Are my prayers

Ed Roberts 1/16/10

For many the words of this poem will speak in a way only they can understand

I live in Oklahoma City

1995 is a year that will forever be burned into my memory

For those in New York, they will speak of Sept. 11th

For those in New Orleans, they will speak of Katrina

As a poet I try to find words others can not find

Sometimes in the end

All I am left with are my tears and my prayers