It was as if nature had declared a war with society
Wanting to punish all that inhabited its land
And by sending out its highest ranked soldiers
Armed with devastation I had never anticipated
It almost accomplished its unsettling goal

By encouraging its delicate sprinkles
To evolve into a mass of thunder and water
We fled like ants to my mothers vehicle
Clinging to each other, refusing to drown
Just on the brief walk to the car

Packing only the bare essentials
Believing that there would be a second trip
Yet later realizing that we had just barely made it out
And escaped the torment that would be thrown upon my hometown
That I left my childhood with

We drove through a rising ocean of destruction
With no boat to float above
But rather a car to plow through
And we sat in complete silence as we witnessed other cars drift by
Praying that ours would not render that same fate

But that fear couldn't compare
To the realization that came from a phone call to my dad
With him explaining his oath to the badge
And the duties that came with that binding pact
It had felt like my heart sank with the flood

But we pressed on
Driving against the rain
Far away from the battleground
Far away from the war
Far away from the missiles pointed at civilian homes
That kept me far away from my father

Yet the further we drove
The more severe my homesickness grew
And the only antidote happened to be
Locked up in the medicine cabinet at home
Waiting for potential damage to corrupt it
And render my sickness uncurable

For weeks we bounced from hotel to hotel
Never quite finding comfort
But having the opportunity to explore unknown cities
That held a sense of beauty in distraction
That contained all the temporary comfort that we needed

But upon our arrival home
The city had presented itself as a familiar stranger
Empty and deserted
Composed of features similar to a ghost town
Though it felt like the town itself was the ghost

Mountains of the ruined towered among the streets
Taller than the houses they belonged town
And the stench of muck and decay wavered throughout the town
Embodying what morale was left of it
Enough to make you feel like a ghost too