You drew the plan
and chose the lot
and leveled the earth
and tore out the trees
and laid the slab
and placed the pipes
and raised the walls
and spaced the windows
and mulled the materials
and set the roof
and attached the shingles
and picked each door
and painted each room
and tiled, carpeted, and rugged
each floor
to your exacting
specifications.

“It’s just what I always wanted”, you said.

You were meticulous
and creative and thrifty
erecting a fine structure,
your well-concepted
and carefully crafted
place to call home.

It didn’t matter
that you built on a fault line-
because everything looked so stable,
as it had for so many years,
even though you were told
“You are building in a dangerous location,
unstable and seismic,
an earthquake area
and there is activity in the zone.”

There has been nothing
that felt active here
for years.

“You are building in a dangerous location,
and there is activity in the zone”, they said.

And then it happened.

It’s too bad you ignored the advice,
and certainly someone out there is at fault.
The wood was too weak, too old, too brittle.
The nails were soft and splintered in the shaking.
The eaves were flawed and pitched under pressure.
The concrete cracked and snapped like a chocolate bar.

“I lost everything. I lost everything.
Every beautiful thing I had
was bundled up inside this building!
There must be justice!
Somebody out there must be
responsible for this!
I certainly deserve compensation!
Somebody out there must compensate me!
You owe me, neighbor, vendor, builder,
toolmaker, corporation, city,
county, country, cosmos!
I lost everything.”

Don’t be surprised that that would happen
if you ignore educated advice
and build your life
and your dream castle
and your exquisite existence
in an earthquake zone,
if you build your house
upon a fault line.