HIGH WATER

I read
about how
weather went
homicidal
in Texas

and
furious water
rushed
through a
riverside campsite
and washed away
a dozen girls asleep
in RVs
and tents.

there
was hope
a few would
cling to trees and
be saved

but
the rescue
teams found
nothing.

to be
that young
and erased so
early and
easily

is a horror.

and
I sit here
worried
about

cancer
and the slow
yet inevitable
decomposition
of my seven
and half decade
old self.

I lived
through hell
many a
time

but never high water.