Paradise Lost, Beginning to Say "Goodbye"

How can we start to say "goodbye"
It's too godawful to believe
One merciless inferno
ceded far too much to grieve

When can we start to say "goodbye"
Each day's haze, too thick to clear
Death threats invade the nightly sleep
We're paralyzed by fear

Where do we start to say "goodbye"
Sans your crisp, brisk pine air 
One more slice of Black Bear pie
A final ounce of your down-home care

To whom do we start to say "goodbye"
Endearing senior pairings 
married fifty years or more
like the ones that owned and nurtured my favorite antique store (Treasures of Paradise)
Or the banjo picking cow folk, 
the flag-flailing Trumpeteers
The man who saved his neighbors' homes, asking only for some beers

To the men resembling Santa
if Santa dropped one hundred pounds

The teens labeled "disabled"

who beat me in every Skip-Bo round

But if we start with children 

How can we best explain
Their rooms and schools, all burnt to ash
Not one swing-set remains

 

FACTS ABOUT THE CAMP FIRE:

It lasted from 11/8 to 11/25/18.

It incinerated an area the size of Chicago.

153,335 acres burned

13,972 single-family homes

18,793 structures  

85 identified deaths

296+ unaccounted for; may likely never be identified

52,000 people displaced 
over 90% of Paradise is no longer

                                                        

Honey Run Covered Bridge - before and after 11/8/18. Built in 1886 on the original road that connected Chico and Paradise, it was the last bridge of its kinds in the US. Plans are underway to recreate it, as a memorial to those who perished.

first photo: me in front of Coco Amatrice, 2011

This one "goodbye"
spans miles beyond
the passing of a friend

                          How can we start to say "goodbye"
                             when "goodbye" has no end?