ODE TO EL NINO

It's El Nino this and El Nino that.
It's El Nino that laid California flat.
The coastal shores came tumbling down,
And there were floods that hit most every town.

All those lovely homes crushed by the mud.
Their owners' dreams gone with the flood.
And the Sierras tasted El Nino too.
They all turned white when the blizzards blew.

To buy the lettuce, grape or artichoke,
You must dig deep down into your poke.
It will cost more this year to buy the wine.
Like that rose you bought for your Valentine.

The Arizona desert received its share.
Not for so long had it rained much there.
The lizards and snakes have learned to swim.
So many ponds and lakes filled to the brim.

El Nino remembered The Lone Star State,
Like it did another forty eight.
But Texas is big and it deserves much more;
So it had storms and tornadoes by the score.

The Hawaiian Islands could get no rain.
The water shortage causing so much pain.
Macadamia nuts and flowers and even pot,
Were in short supply, it was so dry and hot.

And El Nino had other effects, I fear.
Who will explain so many births next year?
The answer is clear to me and should be to you:
When the big storms hit, what else was there to do?

Nino: Can't you return from whence you came?
Since you arrived, our lives are not the same.
Everything that happens gets blamed on you.
Please go back to the depths of the ocean blue.