But Say The Great Tsunami Had Touched You.. Poem by Shelley Byron Keats

But then say that the great Tsunami had touched you:
fingered you with spray, swallowed you whole,
then spat you out again....
Yet your wife, the clinging children an inch away, all just screaming bait
that falls under its edged, frothed blade of wave- forever.
Then soon once more the smooth sea
stealing your every tear and (fate's jest!)
showing in uncaring parody a floating image of your astonished face.
They're gone forever, forever...
How would you repeat, proclaim
in unwavered voice what seemed haunting sunsets upon skies, air claiming your prayers-
What refrain might hymn Sparing Hands, scale the shout for dead, old 'God' again?