Overcome...

Here once again
I am overcome
by the devastation
brought about by
Katrina

it's been a tough week
I had to hit the ground running
to make up for
the time I lost
when Eric died

in order to
make my numbers for a week
I've been
living
breathing
eating
and sleeping
my job

tonight
I finally sat down
and watched
and
I am overcome

I hear the news commentator saying
that people didn't leave
because they were so poor
that they had no way to get out

that all they owned in their lifetimes
were the houses
they likely died in

there is no food
there is no safe water
and the city of New Orleans is no more

there will be no more
"riding on the city of New Orleans"

how do people
live through such horror
and remain sane?

how do people
suffer such loss
and remain sane?

how do people do it?

The looting has started
and gangs of thugs
have armed themselves
and are fighting the police
to take over

there are no roads
and even if there were
there's no place to store
all the supplies brought
to the Red Cross
on behalf of the survivors

I fear
that homeland disasters
such as this
will make or break humanity

will it be survival of the fittest?
or can mankind come together?

fear does awful things to people
and I'm truly frightened to find out
what we will become

all this while
I am watching footage
and just when I think
that this time
my heart will truly break

I see there flying in the wind
in the midst of miles and mile and miles
of devastation...

"Old Glory"







and I am reminded that
our brothers and sisters
to the South
will rise up as a nation
and take care of their own

and I am OverCome