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Ode to Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302

Ghelawdewos Araia, PhD March 13, 2019

Oh! What a day is Sunday, March Ten, Two Thousand Nineteen

A world-wide tragedy to die with flying machine and gasoline

Accursed day that claimed a hundred fifty seven lives caused by flight control problem in mid-air

That made me so sad and emotional and forced me to utter, ‘life is not fair’

Passengers eaten by a defective Boeing 737 Max Eight

All helpless, let alone change the course of distraught

The plane made unusual noise in anticipation of destruction

It was wallowing like a disturbed bird headed for shattering demolition

It fell to the ground straight down

And buried the victims in a thirteen meters deep ground hole

Created by the impact of the vulture machine bowl

Before the final crash, I heard the cry of the passengers

And then followed a huge blast, twice

My heart goes out to all the victims of Flight 302

My heart bleeds; my soul is tormented for Three O Two

I cry for humanity

Not for a single nationality

I cry for Flight 302 passengers from thirty-five nations

A multicultural and multilingual of travelers cut off from their destinations

I cry for humanity

For those who were terrified in mid-air

For all who encountered physical anguish and death

Oh! Sunday, March Ten, Two Thousand Nineteen

A day that swallowed passengers in a pit of meters thirteen

For all Ethiopians engaged in ethnocentric politics and skirmishes

Ethiopian Flight 302 is a grand prophetic sign to stop tribal clashes

By way of bidding farewell to the dead of Ethiopian Flight 302

I say, let that dreadful ground be converted into a shrine

To remember the victims, their names written in golden alphabets

So that they glitter forever and shine

May the soul of the passengers of Flight 302 rest in peace and tranquility

And their loved ones get solace in repose and serenity!

Note: The passengers of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 were from Austria, Belgium, Britain, Canada, China, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Somalia, Sudan, Sweden, Togo, United States, and Yemen.