The date was 4 September and the time four thirty five
When the ground beneath our city gave a jolt and came alive
The earth began to shudder and I heard a mighty boom
And the stuff inside my bedroom started flying round the room
I heard a lot of smashing as I lay there in the dark
And the dog was clearly terrified and gave a helpless bark
I knew that in an earthquake one should stand beneath a door
But I couldn’t cut a path through all the debris on the floor
It seemed to last forever as the quake intensified
As I clung on to my pillow and I prayed it would subside
When the shaking finally ended and the rattling was no more
I could tell we’d had a big one, there’d be casualties for sure
And I knew that Christchurch City isn’t on the Alpine Fault
Meaning some poor buggers somewhere had a monumental jolt
My daughter came into my room and on the bed we sat
Comforting our anxious dog and looking for the cat
We waited for the sun to rise because we had no power
And there wasn’t any water so we couldn’t have a shower
We texted friends and family and all were quite okay
But we knew that we were going to have a most peculiar day
We found a battery radio and we tuned into a station
That provided all the details and disaster information
When daylight finally came, we got out of bed and dressed
And went into the living room to tidy up the mess
Once we’d got it tidied and picked up the debris
All I really wanted was a decent cup of tea
Our quake was over seven and it caused a lot of trouble
There are buildings in our city that are now just heaps of rubble
There are people with no water and no place to call their home
There are some who are so nervous they can’t bear to be alone
Our sleep has been disrupted by these constant aftershocks
So we reach for something calming like a whiskey on the rocks
When the shock has left us we must face the nitty gritty
Of rolling up our sleeves and reconstructing our great city
We’ve shown we are Crusaders – we’re resourceful and strong-willed
We can only count our blessings that not one of us was killed
Claire Jewitt 