Safe Haven Bruce McCorkill
The water calmly accepts me
I am now safe
only for a short time
finally saved from the inferno
by the cool waters of the dam
fought the flames but failed
to match the mighty red force
thought our home was a safe haven
but it was not
room to room it was destroyed
by the hungry growling flames
no matter what we did
forced to surrender to a greater force
the only hope to gather the children
and make a race to safety
in the cool waters of the dam
I am now safe
from the present and the past
but not from the future
I have to face the demons
of my family – wife and children
who lost the race to safety
in the cool waters of the dam
they are gone and so has my life
I quietly float and think
if I could sink to the welcoming floor
stay there forever
I would always be safe
not have to face my future
in the cool waters of the dam
OM:NI - Diamond Creek 
Not sure that I particularly like this style of writing but, you sure have captured the moment…………..kr
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A worthy tribute to those distressed folk, handled deftly in the modern idiom, I feel. What surprised me was that the mostly cheerful Bruce face could be driven to such depths of pathos.
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I was very touched by your poem Bruce. It captures that terrible dilemma of having survived when others close to the survivor (family members/friends) have not. No-one comes out of such a situation unscathed. I know of one Black Saturday survivor who couldn’t live with himself because of that and who ended up taking his own life.
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Captivating Bruce, though a bit disturbing as it evokes many memories and thoughts of that awful day – of those affected by the tragedy and that there but for fate…………?
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