Ballad of the Montecito Mudslide

Sitting watching the rain pour down
Clueless to what was in store for our town.
Sheets of water drenched the gutter,
The devastation could not be uttered.

The night crept on, filling fast with fear
I could not believe what I was about to hear.
Rumbles, rocks, rivers wild.
All I could do was run for my child.

“Mommy, Mommy what is happening?”
“O, My sweet child, the earth is blackening”
Running from home with dread in our hearts
Looking back once to see it fall apart.

Thick mud stormed from mountaintops
Seeming as if it would never stop.
Previously scorched earth made land unstable
Creating a scene from a long-lost fable.

Barefoot and frightened with nowhere to go,
We tried to avoid the overflow.
Homes destroyed and lives lost.
It would take days to understand the cost.

“Mommy, Mommy what is happening?”
“O, My sweet child, our little town is saddening.”
Walls and glass washed away,
But our love and community is here to stay.

After the “Ballad of Birmingham”