based on a true story
smoke rose so high tonight
it blotted out the stars
cries like droplets
raining down from crumbling walls
i found a child half gone, her dad crisped to the core--
i don't wanna be a fireman anymore
i've climbed that ladder 12 times 10
gotten to the windows just to have them buckle in
saw my buddy fall, pinned, struggling to breath
we couldn't pull him out before we had to leave
i don't want to be a fireman anymore
i lived enough to know
you can't beat a flame
that runs along beside
i'm all out of fight
and i can't watch it grow
i don't want to be a fireman anymore
@timfatchen Mar 2022
I'm glad to say, I never lost anyone in the 300-odd fires I fought (though several people were killed in one of them) so I don't have that trauma, but I can relate. Each time we go to and fro from the mountains, I dip my hat as we pass the bush firefighter's memorial/cenotaph.