3052
A poem
Author: Hana Falak, Privatna umjetnička gimnazija
I wake up from the sound of screaming.
I stand up and let out a deep sigh.
A lady on the street was screaming.
But I didn’t really want to know why.
If only I was dreaming.
But I kept laying in bed, convincing myself
that here’s probably nothing I can do.
I woke up from the sound of screaming
in the year 3052.
I toss and turn, whine and grumble
but I simply cannot sleep.
I look out the window, and I see a woman screaming.
Screaming at a hole six feet deep.
I groan in annoyance.
Why must I trade this for my lovely dreams?
But this lady, screaming at a hole
she really needs help, it seems.
I get up and get dressed
put my trendy gas mask on
and pick out a thin blue vest.
I approach the door
all the right buttons I push-
Wait.
Something is wrong.
From the outside, I hear a song.
This gets me confused.
If I can hear such a lovely voice sing,
all the way from the door,
that means that the old lady
isn’t screaming any more.
I run out of my house, as fear fills my chest
I’ll just have to see for myself, and hope for the best.
I get to the lady, then stop.
“What’s wrong?” the question I finally drop.
“What got you so upset, madam,
that I can hear you scream all the way from my rooftop?”
The old lady turns to me, and everything becomes clear.
Her face is exposed, she’s got no mask on!
“Ma’am, what on Earth happened??
You know you can’t breathe out here!
What are you even doing…”
Oh dear.
The hole six feet deep,
the one the lady was screaming at,
is full of motionless animals covered in tar.
Some seagulls, some rats
and a single black cat.
The poor things must’ve tried desperately to escape it, but from the looks of it, didn’t get very far.
I turn to the woman.
She gestures to the hole.
“Please” she says, her voice quiet and dry.
“The stray cat just might survive.”
Without much thinking
(curse my big heart)
into the hole I dive.
As soon as I fall on the soft sticky bottom
I grab the stray cat, simple as that
and quickly start climbing up.
As I’m climbing, I look at it’s face
and find myself shocked as I realize
of other, all over it’s body, chemicals there is a trace.
I climb to the top
without taking a stop.
When I get out, the old lady gently I grab by the waist
And as I put her and the cat over my shoulders I yell:
“Quickly madam, we must take haste!”
And I run to my home, away from this smoggy hell.
When I get in, I lock the door.
And notice the lady isn’t looking to well.
She’s coughing and wheezing, from all the thick smoke.
It’s a miracle she didn’t already choke.
I run to the kitchen, give her a fresh glass of water, and from it
she slowly drinks.
The cat watches , us, stares.
Who knows exactly what of it thinks.
The lady stops coughing,
and falls asleep.
And I let out a sigh; relieved, deep.
The old lady, though our interaction brief,
already has a place in my heart.
What can I say, I’m a sensitive man.
About everything and everyone I care,
and though I wouldn’t admit it at first, to hear her screaming I couldn’t bare.
I get up, and take the cat in my arms,
and I whisper to her, gently.
“Shh, don’t worry, you’re far away from harm.”
I look at her, lovingly, and speak quietly as not to scare her, intently.
I wash the black cat, as much as I can.
As it turns out, her coat is fluffy and brown
or at least, it was, before she came into town.
She was a beautiful, cuddly stray.
Too bad she came across filthy tar in her way.
I sigh again, this time more sad.
If only we knew.
If only we knew things would get this bad.
If only there was something, anything we could do.
If only there was a way to prevent
the nightmarish hell that happened
in 3052.
