Turn of the century There came a mighty surge And it washed away This city's sweat and blood The Gulf was stealing lives Young, old, and in between Ripped the clothes off their backs Disaster unforeseen The wind beat down the city The water climbed and grew Roof tiles as deadly as swords Debris impaled and flew It dragged on through the night The dreadful screams and cries With nothing left intact After receding tides It was dark times Over six thousand killed In several hours of horror We dropped their bodies at sea But they washed back to the shore And now our city mourned And burned our dead in pyres Mama lost her mama Granddaddy lost his wife It was a gruesome time It was so hard to take Recalling talk of a sea wall But no priority And now the years have passed I'm thinking of that time Thinking of the storm And what it washed away With its dark tides