I WATCH with horrific fascination,

The excerpts on TV

This has the mark of Spielberg,

But what title could it be ?

A tower engulfed in flames and ash,

Too terrible for contemplation,

“Hell on Earth” perhaps ?

Smoke, fire, a blazing building,

Now that’s a bit far fetched.

Not a London tower block ?

Suddenly I retched.

These heroic firemen

Were not in a fantasy.

This was 2017

And harsh reality.

Dreadful moving pictures

Of panic and death,

Mayhem, screams and terror,

People breathing their last breath.

Perhaps somewhere in the blackness

There was a reason why.

Impossible to understand.

But surely for them we try.

Christine Hulme

Goostrey