The Tornado

It was just startin' to drizzle as I walked out the door But I've delivered papers in the rain like that before 3:30 in the morning, I was happy as a lark As I grabbed my bike and rode into the dark I pedaled through the neighborhood, the weather on my mind The wind was pickin' up and howlin' louder all the time The sky churned like a cauldron and the distant thunder roared And I knew that I was in for quite a storm A little rain never hurt no one, so I kept pressin' on And I tried to tell myself it's always darkest before the dawn Lighting struck an oak tree as I leapt off my bike The sirens started wailing, but there was no good place to hide I knew without a doubt there was a twister touchin' down So I crawled into a culvert to wait it out The little bit of courage I had left was almost gone But I tried to tell myself it's always darkest before the dawn And then the nightmare started, it got deafeningly loud Every fiber in me screamed out, but I couldn't make a sound The whirling of a vortex, a violent carousel It sounded like a freight train was draggin' me to hell And this was my prayer "Save me from this terrible nightmare" That was when I saw my family with my eyes shut real tight Would they know how much I loved them if this was how I died? No, I vowed I'd not be murdered by a monster in the sky that night But if I went home to heaven, at least that's where I'd belong Yeah, I tried to tell myself it's always darkest before the dawn So I kept hangin' on I kept hangin' on The shadows slowly melted as I was hunkered down 'Til at last the worst was over, the storm was dyin' out I crept out of that culvert and I went weak in the knees 'Cause what I saw was a somber sight to see There was nothin' but destruction and wreckage in that town Cars were upside down and houses leveled to the ground A twisted trampoline was hangin' from the power lines I blinked a tear back 'cause I felt lucky to be alive And that was how I learned to live when you can run, but you can't hide How to feel trapped in a tunnel but come out the other side 'Cause with all the stormy weather in the world, you learn to take life one storm at a time You don't have to be afraid And now when there's bad weather on the way, I stay calm And I keep hangin' on because it's always darkest before the dawn And I keep hangin' on I keep hangin' on