Standing in the Fire

Verse 1

Five straight days the devil winds came calling,

Hundred miles an hour across the plains,

Colorado held its breath and kept on falling,

Humidity at eleven, not a sign of rain.

The heat pushed near the records ever taken,

Single digits moisture in the air,

A thousand flights delayed, the ground was shaking,

And wildfire warnings echoed everywhere.

Chorus

Standing in the field while winds fly,

No shelter from the scorching, angry sky,

Colorado on the edge, too dry to cry,

Standing in the fire, wondering why.

Verse 2

They cut the power lines to save the living,

Thousands left in darkness, left in fear,

The university closed its doors — no giving

Lessons when catastrophe is near.

The gusts tore through the ridges and the valleys,

Hundred mile-an-hour funeral song,

While firefighters gathered in the alleys,

Praying that the front would move along.

Chorus

Standing in the field while winds fly,

No shelter from the scorching, angry sky,

Colorado on the edge, too dry to cry,

Standing in the fire, wondering why.

Verse 3

They say the state didn't dodge a single bullet,

It stood right where the danger chose to aim,

Five days of crisis, pushing past the limit,

And nothing in the forecast looked the same.

The Centennial State has seen its share of burning,

But a hundred miles an hour breaks the will,

And somewhere in the smoke a lesson's turning:

The fire weather crisis isn't still.

Bridge

When the wind dies down and the dust has settled,

Will we remember what it cost?

Every flight delayed, every life unsettled,

Every acre nearly lost.

Chorus

Standing in the field while winds fly,

No shelter from the scorching, angry sky,

Colorado on the edge, too dry to cry,

Standing in the fire, wondering why.

Inspired by real events. Names, details, and narrative may be fictionalized.