The world watched with bated breath
Northern Thailand
Twelve boys, 11 to 16, their soccer coach
in the underground cave
to celebrate a birthday
The team’s name, The Wild Boars
“Don’t enter in the rainy season,”
the warning sign had said
but…
A heavy rainstorm floods the cave entrance
The group retreats
Back, back, still further back
charging waters lapping at their feet
Two miles into the depths of the cave
where the team clings to safety
on a narrow ledge
Three thousand feet below the surface
Pitch black, damp, clammy, no sound
No food, no tools, no jackets, no matches
Imprisoned, no path to escape
Surreal, harrowing
Their coach leads the boys
in guided meditation
and instructs them to
lick water off a stalactite
Death stares all in the eye
A park ranger happens upon their bikes
and Thai military divers enter the cave
The water so murky
their lights are useless
No one knows if the boys are alive
Chances of success, infinitesimal
Then, nine days later, an incredible stroke of fate
Two British divers surface when their line runs out
and there .... to their surprise .... is the team
Puzzled, disoriented, disbelieving
More divers join the group
A nurse, a doctor
blankets, food
Grave peril for all
Strong currents, no visibility
Passageways as narrow as fifteen inches
One Thai Navy SEAL — Saman Kunan
dies on his journey out
A hundred brave divers work in that cave
teaching the boys to swim, to dive
With oxygen dropping to fifteen percent
the rescue begins on Day 16
Two divers for each boy
One diver in front, one behind
“Life-threatening,” all agree
Four boys are brought out on the first day
Four more on the next
And Day 18, the last four teammates and their coach
Underweight, exhausted
But all have survived
Their families, unimaginable joy
Gratitude and wonder from the boys
The world breathes a sigh of relief
A modern miracle at the Thai cave
A modern miracle at the Thai cave
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