Hurricane Hattie

HURRICANE HATTIE It came like a thief After midnight Stealthily Unawares Mischievously Spitefully Desperately Determined With preconceived plans Across the Caribbean Sea Suddenly turning west Making a beeline To British Honduras In Central America It foiled expectations That it would arrive At seven the next morning And Instead Made a surprise visit Six hours earlier And Like the Gestapo The KGB The Secret Police Attacked While people were Least prepared Snoozing Snoring Dreaming Of better things. Discriminating It attacked Belize Ignoring neighboring Guatemala Honduras Mexico As if Remotely controlled By some Vengeful fanatic At 150 miles per hour And more It Clobbered Battered Hammered Pounded The coastline Of The Jewel People still ’memba How in ’61 It wrecked havoc In Dangriga Belize City San Pedro Cay Caulker Among others As it Thumped Hit Broke Lifted Pushed Carried Dumped Submerged Their valuables And Like a Repo Man Dispossess them Of their Treasured belongings Within the Make-belief safety Of its eye Poor people Thinking it was over Sought their fortunes On the beaches In the shops In others’ property When Hattie On a round trip ticket Came back hurriedly And with More gusto Lashed out As a category five Storm Typhoon Hurricane To teach them a lesson In Tort Honesty Respect And dignity. In the end One third of the coast Was devastated One third Damaged And Another third Standing With 264 dead And millions Of dollars lost The place lay wasted Spoiled Thorn Flooded Damaged Wounded Smashed Muddied Polluted As Debris Corpses Belongings And victims Wallowed in its wake. As it distanced itself From Its handiwork And Observed With a smirk Its power To Subdue Man Woman and child It grinned In satisfaction At its exploits And its supernatural supremacy To shape destiny And vanquish the vulnerable