That's When I Knew

Lying on the couch watching TV
just staring at the screen
I'd drowned in a sea of sympathy
because of what I'd seen

The piercing winds
a storm that raged
so many lives
forever changed

Entire communities
destroyed by the sea
an ocean existed
where a street used to be

A house that had vanished
except for its roof
stuck out like an island
and offered me proof

That this wasn't a TV drama
or a plot for a book
this wasn't a movie trailer,
though that's how it looked

Numbers painted on houses
gave the total found alive
and I was so affected
by the ones who had survived

An old man held a sign
asking,"Have you seen my son?"
and I thought to myself,
"What would I have done?"

What if I couldn't find my family?
what if they'd been swept away?
what if I didn't know where my friends were?
or if they were all OK?

Would they all know that I love them?
would my boyfriend know it too?
what if we were separated?
and right then is when I knew

That I truly loved him
and it's something he should know
we hadn't said "I love you"
but those words could help us grow

Those images I'd witnessed
a roof adorned with "help"
made me seek the courage
to tell him how I felt

I turned off the TV
my face was stained with tears
I brushed them all aside and tried
to wipe away my fears

For a little while I sat there
and took a moment just to think
a new image entered my head
every time that I would blink

I thought of all the sorrow
of so many families broken
and a few little words
we both had left unspoken

The mighty piercing winds
a storm that surely raged
two lives I knew so well
were just about to change...