Peter Tomlinson
The Storm
The weakening sun withdraws
and casts a shadow to cover the land.
Darkness descends
concealing the storm in ferocious abandon,
anonymous and indiscriminate.
Rocks and hollows that sheltered man
in his wretched state
are lashed with rain
and the wild cursing wind
screams at the cowering trees.
Animals scurry for cover
and birds take to the ground.
Streams become urgent
and the land finds new channels
for the hurrying flood.
Eyes return to primeval vision,
narrowed to pierce the storm.
Ancient feelings are revealed
as the wind worries bodies bent
against the unremitting force.
All that live close their ears.
Dead trees, grotesque in gesture,
succumb and return to the ground,
and the forest is purged of weakness.
The land is cleansed
and the storm grants pause
to the laboured earth.
The sunlight returns
and healing folds of light warm the land.
All that live emerge
to breathe the storm-cleansed air
and utter whatever cry they have
to greet the return of the ancient harmony.
Page(s) 29
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