When they woke up this morning
did the people of Alabama
know they would lose their homes?
Did the wailing sirens warn them
all their possessions would soon be gone?
Did they have time to hunker down
and protect themselves before
the tornado touched ground?
Could they distinguish their screaming
from the wailing of the wind?
Did they even have time to pray?
"Can’t recognize the street," a survivor
said, "Where is the market, the school,
and the city hall? Everything looks like
it was leveled by a giant weed whacker. How
will we ever recover from this super storm?"
"When winds set down, the path of destruction
was a mile wide. All we could do was pray."
"Can you believe it, every branch on the Magnolia
tree was ripped off at the trunk?"
"After the storm, strangers came to help
offering hands to move trees from the streets,
sift through wreckage to retrieve mementos,
pray with us so we could find strength to live."
"Our future plans all vanished.
The remodeled kitchen and spring garden
finished but now gone, scattered across
the neighborhood, mingled with debris
in several counties. Did anyone find
my wedding ring? What about the photo
album? The computer is smashed but
our files can be retrieved, Oh no, is
that Mr. Olson, underneath his car?"
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