Black Friday / My first memories
My first memory was a dusty road I traveled it 25 years ago On the way to get my mother But this one night was like no otherThe road was closed and up aheadThere was a cloud so filled with dread Dark and dreary folks where weary of the cloud on that roadThe police stopped us not far from motherSaid return home, pray for mother this cloud ahead was a great storm The likes of, they had not seen before.My mother worked on refinery row the storm was minutes awayMother watched from a wall of window's as it headed right their way They laughed at the radio telling them "TORNADO ON THE WAY" as the seconds passed the silly summer students laughed and as quickly as it had shown its dark face It swooped away the other way and destroyed the mill across that dusty highway
Lives already lost no one knew the cost that would be paid that day there I sat a boy of 3 on the dusty highway, I watched with sheer panicAs the hail stones they fell, One the size of a softball smashed the windshield as it fell this my first memory. Aunty screamed as I cried and we headed back to our home, We watched in the rear view mirror as the buildings where lifted and thrown, Like toys caught in a tantrum of a child my tender age they where picked up and tossed around on that July's darkest dayIt headed due south across the city not caring what it did, it tore apart the lives of family's and many little kids, It tore through the trailer parks leaving horror in its wake, Horror I can not describe at this place and time for I was not there that day. But many where and nightmares a plenty I am sure have been shared by one and all, Story's of a boy just 2 months old ripped from his mothers arms, That boy survived to tell his story I wish I could relay it, But I was only lucky enough to hear on the radio and listen to him say it. Over 300 homes it tore apart in its hour here on earth 27 lives where taken more than 300 people here were hurt, the terror of this horror show far from being past us, it was something this city had never seen, And never has again seen after. When the show it finally ended it was so quite and serene, for those left standing, the sky so blue the grass and trees so green, But peoples lives where shattered. We all stood together and we cleaned, For days and days on end as we searched through rubble and debris.I can not begin to tell you, Half of all that happened, amazing story's you can find of this natural disaster, Story's of courage, Story's of will, story's of human devotion, I promise you you will not get through without feeling A LOT of emotion. I wish that I could do justice to the terror of that night, Relay to you the fear and sadness of those peoples affected's plight, But I can not I am but a man 27 years of age, I feel inside such sadness and a little rage, My first memory was not of happy times instead it was this day Friday, July 31, 1987 the day Black Friday came lucky for me that boy of 3 was spared his and his mothers life..But many where no so lucky and for them this poem I write.So they will be remembered their loved ones know I care, It may not be much but my small touch a hug if you will, showing that we remember their losses and this city feels their pain that forever and a day they will be alive in our hearts again.
Lives already lost no one knew the cost that would be paid that day there I sat a boy of 3 on the dusty highway, I watched with sheer panicAs the hail stones they fell, One the size of a softball smashed the windshield as it fell this my first memory. Aunty screamed as I cried and we headed back to our home, We watched in the rear view mirror as the buildings where lifted and thrown, Like toys caught in a tantrum of a child my tender age they where picked up and tossed around on that July's darkest dayIt headed due south across the city not caring what it did, it tore apart the lives of family's and many little kids, It tore through the trailer parks leaving horror in its wake, Horror I can not describe at this place and time for I was not there that day. But many where and nightmares a plenty I am sure have been shared by one and all, Story's of a boy just 2 months old ripped from his mothers arms, That boy survived to tell his story I wish I could relay it, But I was only lucky enough to hear on the radio and listen to him say it. Over 300 homes it tore apart in its hour here on earth 27 lives where taken more than 300 people here were hurt, the terror of this horror show far from being past us, it was something this city had never seen, And never has again seen after. When the show it finally ended it was so quite and serene, for those left standing, the sky so blue the grass and trees so green, But peoples lives where shattered. We all stood together and we cleaned, For days and days on end as we searched through rubble and debris.I can not begin to tell you, Half of all that happened, amazing story's you can find of this natural disaster, Story's of courage, Story's of will, story's of human devotion, I promise you you will not get through without feeling A LOT of emotion. I wish that I could do justice to the terror of that night, Relay to you the fear and sadness of those peoples affected's plight, But I can not I am but a man 27 years of age, I feel inside such sadness and a little rage, My first memory was not of happy times instead it was this day Friday, July 31, 1987 the day Black Friday came lucky for me that boy of 3 was spared his and his mothers life..But many where no so lucky and for them this poem I write.So they will be remembered their loved ones know I care, It may not be much but my small touch a hug if you will, showing that we remember their losses and this city feels their pain that forever and a day they will be alive in our hearts again.
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