Six Months

It's been six months
since the flood came
and stole our serenity.
We were taken by surprise
by the rushing water
that washed away
homes, roads, lives.
Unearthed rocks
came tumbling down
the creeks and rivers,
and lakes became cemeteries
of muddy debris.
It's been six months
since Hurricane Helene,
and we've seen progress, yes,
in rebuilding what was lost.
But time has not erased
the fear we all feel
when rain falls,
wind blows,
stirring our dread
of another catastrophe.
We will survive, surely,
yet we won't forget
that September
when everything changed.

Wildfires

Now midday the March sky
has become a white haze
of smoke from the wildfires
that seem to be everywhere.
Our woods are being charred
and houses threatened
and residents evacuated.
Just recovering from a flood
that destroyed so much,
Western North Carolina faces
another nightmare.
Our slogan has been
Mountain Strong,
which is true—
we can overcome,
and we will;
but still, when one disaster
follows another,
overcoming is hard to do.

Resurrection

Easter will be here soon—
the day of Resurrection—
an idea we hold fast to
in Western North Carolina,
where so much has been lost
to flood and fire
and so much hope lies in
dreams of rising again,
our lives renewed.