Paul S. Gifford

CALIFORNIA’S BURNING

California Fires: October 25, 2007: High Resolution Satellite images of the fires that have been burning across Southern California for the past 5 days. (Images were taken over the past two days.) There have been over 900,000 forced evacuations, over 1,600 homes have been destroyed, and 500,000 acres have been burned down stretching from Santa Barbara to the Mexican Border.California’s burning –
The sky is black and red
California’s burning
Already one person’s dead

California’s burning
Outside is thick with smoke
California’s burning
And the weather offers no hope

California’s burning
Acres already destroyed
California’s burning
Mother Nature cannot be toyed

California’s burning
Arson was part of the cause
California’s burning
I hope they drown with remorse

California’s burning
Hundred’s of thousands have had to leave
California’s burning
And it is getting even hard to breathe

Winds are gusting up to hundred miles an hour
Mother Nature is flexing her immense power
Flames are dancing through nearby hills
When mother is angry, mother kills

The temperature is well in the nineties
And the ground is browned and dry
It feels like a true hell on earth
And there is no god damn reason why…

Author’s Note: I am doing okay – but the air outside is thick with smoke. I live in Orange County – wedged between Los Angeles and San Diego. The closest fire is 4-5 miles away. That one, in Foothill Ranch, was an arson fire. It is hellishly hot, devilishly dry and wickedly windy, and it is nerve racking to say the least. I was up all night watching its progression. The newscaster just said, “California is under siege.”