Hurricane, Nature’s Test
Standing on the shore as the sun’s muffled
light comes to an end,
Searching the obscured horizon over the once clear blue bay,
The stiff warm breeze not yet strong enough to bend,
Pushing the rolling waves that break near the first tree,
Well beyond where sandcastles stood the day before,
Wondering how long when there will be more.
Then the hint of its storm clouds at the edge,
Vision strained to see their drift,
The touch of water at the feet and moving up several steps to a ledge,
Feeling the first strong gale that gives a seagull an unwanted lift,
Accompanied by a drenching shower with heavy rain not far away,
Followed by the howling wind that would make buildings sway.
The thick angry churn that rotates counter clockwise,
Its loud knock now at the shore,
Forcing the water’s continued rise,
Time to take refuge behind a door,
Many miles away from this lady’s wrath,
Trying to escape her deadly path.
Forced to find the nearest haven,
Stinging wet pellets driven hard against the skin,
Thoughts of being pecked by death’s raven,
Coming across several unfortunate men,
Being picked up by its unseen hand.
Only knowing the final hit was soggy land.
Her swirling water now felt,
The grab of its forceful flow,
Crashing head first into a tree and feeling the welt,
Reaching for its limbs while absorbing her next blow,
Climbing above the water’s grip on this old steady wood,
With roots deep and other storms stood.
Flashes of bright lightening with thunder unheard,
Gripping tightly until still silence appears,
Looking up into its star-filled eye without a word,
Knowing it would again shed more of her unrelenting fury and tears,
Resignation sets in to what must be,
Then remembering a belt around a waist for use in this stout tree.
The rush of wind and rain returns with her dark night,
Worse than what could have been imagined just before being bound,
She bites and claws with all her might,
Destroying and damaging all around,
The scarred and bent old oak took the hurricane’s best,
Along with its exhausted companion who survived this nature’s test.
David G. Bancroft
Copyright 2003
All Rights Reserved