We have done this many times before
Set our house in order
Hunkered down
Loose ends put away
Extra anchors set, and ties
to hold down everything
that could be borne away
Most often it has passed us by —
The next day dedicated
to putting all things back to order
Reopening, resetting our displays
The busy tasks fast filling up our days
But this time could be worse
Thoughts turn toward cyclones
Making us stay low
While yet we scan the sea, the sky
Tsunami warnings urging us
to go high
And we can’t know what we will do
if suddenly our landscape is completely changed
and all the things we trusted to are gone
and we become
like all the other sufferers
who don’t know how
to claim the rights we took for granted
until now.
©Wendy Mulhern
November 6, 2012