The Shock Comes Home

Shivering on the tarmac, but unaware of the weather,
The relatives and dignitaries, heads bowed, stand together,
As six coffins are unloaded, blue and yellow national flags
Drape them. The two royal princesses cry, crumple like rags,
As they surrender to their feelings, their thoughts roam
To the poor victims, as their bodies come back home.

Like the world they were celebrating, it was holiday time,
Suddenly the world changed, for many death bells did chime.
The prime minister cries for the missing, presumed dead,
The families wait broken-hearted, anxious, full of dread,
There is no more doubt that those taken by the foam
Have returned, to be collected and taken back home.

A child breaks away and then places a simple single rose
On one of the coffins, all there watch and everyone knows
That in each wooden box, there's a countryman returning
To their beloved Sweden; those here are already learning
Of the disaster, as through debris others comb,
To find those missing, so they too can come back home.

A shrine at the airport is placed to help those suffering there,
Counsellors stand by, to listen to all those who want to share
Their terrors, their ordeals, speak of what they've seen or lost,
Their holidays in the sun had such a dreadfully high cost.
To those who mourn in Sweden, those that didn't roam,
The bodies of the dead and the shock has come back home.