Tomorrow

For Mary Saflin who was 72, Kimberly Griffith who was 45, and her two daughters, Brenna, age 12 & Mikaela, age 8.

Five days after

their lives were lost

I drove along

Washington Boulevard

Loss hit me as I

Realized

Destruction

Benign

Debris strewn

Precariously

by Raging waters

in a place they

did not belong

upon grassy areas

in the woods

dry mud upon the road

where rain

had pelted the earth

whose belly

could hold no more

Swollen

Engorged

every weakness

Divulged

this road became

a wild

Phantom river

I cried

I prayed

I turned my head

and learned

just how high

those waters were

I wonder why the leaves survived?

the leaves of the bushes

and trees were

Painted by an

Artist of Death

dried earth

high upon the trees

there was one leaf

that had dried mud

only half way up

this was the place where

Devastation resigned

Tomorrow

rain will fall

Tomorrow

rain will attempt

to take away

Memories of today

wiping away

the bits of dried earth

from where

they don’t belong.

Kimberley Formosa © 2011

Related articles

• Rain, traffic, land contribute to deadly Pittsburgh flash flood – The Seattle Times (news.google.com)
• Flash flood in Pittsburgh kills 4, including mom and 2 daughters – Los Angeles Times (news.google.com)
• Pittsburgh flooding victims were mother and 2 daughters, woman, 70 (pennlive.com)