Blue River Home


Blue River Home

(Carleen McCornack) September 2021

 

The burn blackened hillsides and tinder dry timber.
Nothing could stop it when it reached Blue River.
Across the treetops and the asphalt roads.
Chimneys were all that was left of our Blue River homes.

That day in September we tried to prepare,
The east wind was coming, blowing west out of nowhere.
A sudden sound, the fire broke,
On the down river wind it would go to our Blue River homes.

Over the hills down the dry dusty canyons,
The wind merged the fire when it reached Mt. Hayden.
Phone lines down, there’s nowhere to go,
Stranded above and below our Blue River homes.

They drove up the valley, engulfed with the flames,
Sounding the sirens and calling out names.
We’re overrun, you gotta go,
Leave everything that you own and your Blue River home.

Pianos and pictures and art turned to embers,
And all of the treasures kept to remember.
A simple life, all we owned,
Gone in the dark of the night with our Blue River homes.

Mothers and Fathers and sons and daughters,
Lived on the banks of this cold blue water.
Houses and barns and trees are all gone,
Like the river they’ll return where they belong, McKenzie strong.


The burn blackened hillsides and tinder dry timber.
Nothing could stop it when it reached Blue River.
Across the treetops and the asphalt roads.
Chimneys were all that was left of our Blue River home.

© 2021 Carleen McCornack/McTate Music. All rights reserved.