for oklahoma

this is where my house once stood,
this is where i earned my livelihood
this was the school where my children
played.
now some of them have gone away.
this is the street where we
used to walk,
now so many of us stand here,
too stunned to talk.
this is where, in the blink of
a tornado's eye,
a world, now rubble,
has said goodbye.
and this is where,
in spite of all of it,
we will get our lives back
and we will NEVER quit.