in some muddy lot
all the horrors of life come real
that was the year
fires left the dirt slopes beside the freeway
black and charred
and the trees
spindly toothpicks burned through
like an angry child's artwork

later, when it wouldn't stop raining,
there were mudslides and floods,
echoes of nature's past violence,
reminders of things to come

someone, everyone,
made me the promise of a happy life,
success and satisfaction,
of the relief i'd feel after hard work,
the worth i'd find in the course i'd naturally take

but i don't find much worth in anything now
and i don't feel it's natural
the way my life is going
disaster mounting on disaster
with no meaning to the present
and no purpose for the future