Niall Finn

PHOTOGRAPHY

 AND POEMS


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Niall Finn

PHOTOGRAPHY AND POEMS

BENEATH US TO THINK ABOUT IT

Earthquakes tend to come in spates

At boundaries of crustal plates

And there’s a line just south of Crete

Where Africa and Europe meet.

The continents that here collide –

And slowly past each other slide –

Have boundary rocks that sometimes grip

And hook fast like a Velcro strip

To block all movement till at last

The built-up forces are too vast.

An earthquake is the energy

The ruptured strata then set free.

Reports will mention without fail

A reading on the Richter scale –

A logarithmic scale what’s more,

With 5 ten times as big as 4.

The depth, however, of the break

Will have an impact on the quake

Up on the surface where we live

Since greater depth will tend to give

Absorption of the earthquake’s force

And limit damage, too, of course.

In years gone by Crete’s had a few

Enormous earthquakes, shallow too.

In the landscape you can see

The one in 365 A.D.

Along with all the rest of Greece,

Let’s hope for some more years of peace

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