There's nothing like the abject fear

that leads you to your fate

when the road beneath your car

begins to crack and undulate!

All four corners of the car

go bobbing up and down;

you notice light posts here and there

are swaying all around!

Your parked car's like a tiny boat

out on a stormy sea

with pounding waves, as the insult

that adds to injury. 

You're in a bad one, you can tell,

at least a six-point-eighter!

This one's a quake, and not a tremor;

a real annihilator!

The quake persists relentlessly,

and seconds pass like hours!

These fault lines break the earth apart

with such ungodly power!

The quake has stopped, the ground below

seems solid like a rock.

You think you're safe; now you can breathe,

then comes the aftershock!

They've opened chasms in main roads

and closed off thoroughfares.

Imagine being stranded here

until they've made repairs!