>Twas the night before Frances
>When all through the state
>Not a gas pump was pumping
>Not a store open late
>
>All the plywood was hung
>On the windows with care
>Knowing that a hurricane
>Soon would be there
>
>The children were ready
>With flashlights in hand
>While bands from the hurricane
>Covered over the land
>
>And mamma with her Mag-Lite
>And I in my cap
>Had just filled the bath tub
>For flushing our crap
>
>When out on the lawn
>There arose such a clatter
>I sprang from the closet
>To see what was the matter
>
>The trees on the fence
>And the neighbor's roof torn
>Gave the fear of us dying
>In this terrible storm
>
>With a little wind gust
>So lively and quick
>I remembered quite clearly
>Our walls weren't brick
>
>More rapid than eagles
>Her courses they came
>And she whistled, and wafted
>And surged all the same
>Off shingles! Off sidings!
>Off rooftops! Off power!
>Down trees! Down fences!
>Down trailers! Down towers!
>
>In the center of Florida
>She continued to maul
>Screaming Blow Away!
>Blow Away! Blow Away All!
>As wind ripped and tossed
>The debris through the sky
>I peeked out the shutters
>At cars floating by
>
>So go to the safe-room
>My family did do
>With a portable radio
>And batteries too
>
>And then, in a twinkling
>I heard on the set
>The end was not coming
>For a few hours yet!
>
>As I calmed down the kids
>And was turning around
>Through the window it came
>With a huge crashing sound
>
>A tree branch it was
>All covered in soot
>The wind blew it smack-dab
>On top of my foot
>
>A bundle of twigs
>Now lay in a stack
>And my living room looks
>Like it was under attack
>
>The wind - how it howled!
>The storm - very scary!
>Myself and the family
>Were all too unwary
>The dangers of hurricanes
>Are serious, you know
>They are taken for granted
>As Frances did show
>
>With the winds dying down
>And the danger beneath
>I noticed my tool shed
>Was missing its sheath
>
>So I grabbed my last tarp
>And nailed it on down
>Then I got in my car
>And I headed to town
>
>The traffic was awful
>And stores had no ice
>My five gallon cooler
>Would have to suffice
>
>Generators were scarce
>Not one left in town
>There were trees on the roads
>And power lines down
>
>FEMA was ready
>With people to work
>Electrical companies
>Came in from New York
>
>And in the midst of
>This peculiar routine
>Another storm emerged
>Named Hurricane Jeanne
>
>I sprang to the car
>And gave my family a whistle
>Then away we all went
>Like a Tomahawk missile
>
>You could hear us exclaim
>As we drove out of sight
>"The hell with this place,
>Vermont seems just right!"