'twas The Night Before Frances

[alvino]

'Twas the night before Frances

When all through the state

Not a gas pump was pumping

Not a store open late

All the plywood was hung

On the windows with care

Knowing that a hurricane

Soon would be there

The children were ready

With flashlights in hand

While bands from the hurricane

Covered over the land

And mamma with her Mag-Lite

And I in my cap

Had just filled the bath tub

For flushing our crap

When out on the lawn

There arose such a clatter

I sprang from the closet

To see what was the matter

The trees on the fence

And the neighbor's roof torn

Gave the fear of us dying

In this terrible storm

With a little wind gust

So lively and quick

I remembered quite clearly

Our walls weren't brick

More rapid than eagles

Her courses they came

And she whistled, and wafted

And surged all the same

Off shingles! Off sidings!

Off rooftops! Off power!

Down trees! Down fences!

Down trailers! Down towers!

In the center of Florida

She continued to maul

Screaming Blow Away!

Blow Away! Blow Away All!

As wind ripped and tossed

The debris through the sky

I peeked out the shutters

At cars floating by

So go to the safe-room

My family did do

With a portable radio

And batteries too

And then, in a twinkling

I heard on the set

The end was not coming

For a few hours yet!

As I calmed down the kids

And was turning around

Through the window it came

With a huge crashing sound

A tree branch it was

All covered in soot

The wind blew it smack-dab

On top of my foot

A bundle of twigs

Now lay in a stack

And my liv ing room looks

Like it was under attack

The wind - how it howled!

The storm - very scary!

Myself and the family

Were all too unwary

The dangers of hurricanes

Are serious, you know

They are taken for granted

As Frances did show

With the winds dying down

And the danger beneath

I noticed my tool shed

Was missing its sheath

So I grabbed my last tarp

And nailed it on down

Then I got in my car

And I headed to town

The traffic was awful

And stores had no ice

My five gallon cooler

Would have to suffice

Generators were scarce

Not one left in town

There were trees on the roads

And power lines down

FEMA was ready

With people to work

Electrical companies

Came in from New York

And in the midst of

This peculiar routine

Another storm emerged

Named Hurricane Jeanne

I sprang to the car

And gave my family a whistle

Then away we all went

Like a Tomahawk missile

You could hear us exclaim

As we drove out of sight

"The ###### with this place,

LOS seems just right!"