Friday 23 December 2022

A Poem a Day (543): Storm

 

Storm

 

The storm twists,          dark dust motes spiral          in the midst of angels.

See yourself in the eye          caught in the loud.        This rising blast of energy

swoops and sails,           spinning, casting out light,               the mind rent in two.

Animals soar up in the gust,            its mammoth tail           dug into the ground,

head butting the clouds                    gathering might.           We pray for starlight

to stifle this thing          and make it stop,           so it stands still,

as if time could pause,           the soft sands in the glass        frozen for eternity.

 

The storm repels            and we gaze ever higher           into its towering might,

houses and yards vanishing,            sucked into this behemoth,       and we are small,

so small          as to be nothing really          under the struggling sun.

In the distance           the south sea roars,               echoing the brute above us,

but we are transfixed.           They say to run to the coast,            the vast blue waiting,

this sanctity, this haven,          but we are glued to our post,            gazing to Heaven,

but Heaven can’t see us.           They say we are only women            and stand here invisible.

 

The storm swirls,       its rising swarm takes it all,            insects and all that crawls,

and we watch,            the echo of the thing in our ears,         the finality of it all.

Its anger spirals,           nears a brute crescendo,                   spinning, looping, crossing

field and town,           razing everything in its path           except for our small selves.

The sea calls us,            but we believe we are mightier,           and we keep to our roots,

steady as the trees                that bow and dance               but do not break in the wind.

And then stillness…              a loud silence without echo,             a full stop fully read.

Peace comes in quietude,          the storm vanquished,              and we are empty

as we are,           as we were,        as we will be still           while the earth’s hum reigns.


Copyright Vickie Johnstone, December 23, 2022

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