Though the fire was already out
Twelve old townhouses, sharing walls,
Vulnerable to spontaneous combustion
Four doors down from our home an empty unit
Had a collapsed first floor and smoke still rising
Two-thirty in the morning on the seventh day
of the twelfth month, we were safeFour of us in one car, still in PJ's,
Evacuated and waiting for the all clear
Two children with only their blankets
Two adults with issues unrelated to the fire
Zero damage to our house
But I still waited for an explosion that seemed inevitable
Three months had passed
Since I detonated our comfortable life
One bad night had changed
Our marriage, our jobs, our hope for the future
Thirty minutes of holding tight
And then the fireman told us it was safe to go home
Ten concrete steps to the front door
And I hoped the fireman was right
