LA Nightmare

You remembered seeing the snow fall From the observatory. You remembered the new heat, And the first true spring, And the wind, And the rain. But LA was still LA, It rained here before, anyway.

The fires weren’t new; No, there had been fire as long as you remembered. Besides, fire can’t do much where you live anymore. You used to see Eden from your kitchen window, And you would never forget the mourning dove’s coo. But you didn’t mind the convenience of a modern city, And trees will just burn anyway.

Every once in a while, you smile You thought it was funny how life marched on. You made a living, after all. And Los Angeles had never been an easy place to make a living. Maybe you thought you were proud of this life, Or at least, of what you had, There wasn’t any use in not smiling anyway.

When you looked up at the sky, Did you assume you’d see stars? Sometimes you could drive out to the desert- And there would be a star, But then you’d remember, whatever you had to do. There was no time for stars anyway.

When you were young you went to the zoo, (A zoo was a thing which could never last) But you still remembered you quite liked the animals, And you missed penguins, And polar bears, And it made you sad to think about the sea turtles. And you despaired in not being able to change anything at all.

But nothing had really changed. No, Los Angeles survived. Children went to school, The traffic continued, And air conditioning repair, And you, too, will go on, smiling. There’s nothing, really, to despair about anyway.