Sleeping Through The Hurricane Poem by Chuck Toll

I suppose I could have been more helpful that night,
But it had been a long day and frankly I was tired.
While the wild winds buffeted our darkened house,
While tree boughs groaned in protest and driven rain
Pounded on the roof, I just slept through it all.

We prepared as best we could, battened hatches,
Ate cold supper by candlelight and went upstairs.
Three of us began the night in the large dark bed,
But only one felt duty bound to maintain a vigil
And rose to keep her watch over our little world.

So my boy and I slumbered on, oblivious to all,
While she listened to the violence building outside,
Heard trees trunks shiver, split, come crashing down,
Heard pier pilings sucked from their murky beds,
Heard faint sirens wailing in the distance.

By morning the hurricane had gone its way.
Sunlight dappled the leaf and branch-strewn lawn.
My boy awoke wanting to play so we went outside,
While my wife, who finally left her post at dawn,
Slept fitfully with her storm-tossed dreams.