I was newly employed in Brussels when this story was told to me,
Working alongside a comic spirit who was the senior barge clerk
of oil platforms’ administration strung across the wild North sea.
His name was George Guidry, the family name spoken as Gidree,
French Quarter in New Orleans, family tree went back to the ark
He told me the saga of when Hurricane Betsy struck the Big Easy
A climate change herald, ninth of September, nineteen sixty five
First up Hurricane Betsy, ripped through the Bahamas and Florida
Making landfall west of the mouth of the Mississippi River, to rive
Grand Isle, Louisiana apart, this ravenous storm gobbled it alive,
Betsy turns upriver to New Orleans, that hurricane overrode her
Mississippi waters rose ten feet, would those staying put survive?
The music had stopped in New Orleans, drowned in torrential rain
Climate change still a mystery term, but seventy six then lay dead
A buoyant city broken by the swollen waters of Lake Pontchartrain
A gigantic rebuild, 15 billion in today’s money, assessors maintain
Yet new flood defence data was never projected far enough ahead
Fifty years on Katrina blew, silenced that sweet soul music again.
A. McTiernan
http://www.973-eht-namuh-973.com/Alchem ... TS%207.htm











